A curse has fallen on Minneapolis.
As the city healed its wounds, after the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, the nights of riots that followed and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, a new homicide involving the black community and the police woke the racial demons.
And as in the case of George Floyd, suffocated by the knee of a police officer after a petty theft in a grocery store, it is a banal traffic check for a minor offense that this new tragedy has arisen that is likely to reignite the blaze. .
Sunday, April 11, around 2 p.m., city of Brooklyn Center, northwest suburbs of Minneapolis.
Daunte Wright, 20, was arrested while driving his car by a police patrol.
The spirits are heating up.
Realizing that he is handcuffed, the young man twists and sits down behind the wheel.
Through the open door, policewoman Kimberly Potter, 48, yells
"taser, taser, taser!"
, with the apparent intention of neutralizing the fugitive.
But it's her handgun that she draws.
A gunshot rings out.
“Oh shit, I shot him!”,
cries Agent Potter, visibly bewildered.
The experienced policewoman was accompanying a young colleague in training that day.
She has just committed the irreparable.
Hit in the stomach, Daunte Wright collided with another vehicle a few streets away, before exhaling.
Yet another young black man killed at the hands of those who have taken an oath to protect and serve us all, not just the whites of us
Benjamin Crump, lawyer and civil rights activist, solicited by the family of the deceased, as by that of George Floyd
What had he done to be arrested?
According to Commissioner Tim Gannon, the vehicle's registration had expired.
In addition, his rear-view mirror bore a small deodorant tree, a practice illegal in Minnesota on the grounds that it obstructs the driver's field of vision.
The young man even called his mother to warn her that he had just been arrested for this reason.
"Shooting accident"
It was then that by verifying the identity of the driver, the police discovered the existence of an arrest warrant against Daunte Wright.
The latter had ignored a summons to court for illegal carrying of arms.
Probably he had not been aware of it, this summons having been posted to the wrong address.
Ironically, Sunday's drama took place a few miles from the intersection where George Floyd died, as well as the court where his murderer, ex-police officer Derek Chauvin, is being tried.
At nightfall, Sunday evening, hundreds of residents take to the streets, mad with rage.
The police response is immediate and brutal.
Commissioner Tim Gannon does not want the slippages of last year to repeat.
The jets of projectiles respond to tear gas fire and charges of police in tight ranks and riot gear.
A curfew is established for 7 pm Monday all around the “twin cities” Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
However, many businesses were damaged and 40 people arrested.
To read also:
Death of George Floyd: Minneapolis under tension for the "trial of the century"
"Daunte Wright is yet another young black man killed at the hands of those who have taken an oath to protect and serve us all, not just the whites among us
," says Benjamin Crump, lawyer and civil rights activist. , requested by the family of the deceased, as by that of George Floyd last year
.
As Minneapolis and the country continue to learn how to cope with the tragic murder of George Floyd, we must also now mourn the loss of this young man and father.
The use of such lethal force was entirely preventable and inhumane ”
.
"Desperate, and unthinkable",
adds the black mayor of Brooklyn Center, Mike Elliott, who sacked, Tuesday, the commissioner Tim Gannon, criticized for having accused the death of Wright
"of shooting accident".
Policewoman Kimberly Potter resigned on her own, pending possible legal action.