$3.25M Settlement Reached in the Killing of Daunte Wright

JUN 22 2022·Updated JAN 20 2023

Story

Image credit: AP [via Al Jazeera]

The Facts

The City of Brooklyn Center, Minn. has settled a $3.25M wrongful death civil suit with the family of Daunte Wright, who was killed by an MN police officer.
New York Post
Wright, an unarmed black man, was killed by Officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop in 2021. Potter claimed that she meant to reach for her stun gun instead of her firearm.
USA Today
Wright, who had an outstanding warrant for an aggravated robbery, was pulled over for having an expired license tag and an illegal air freshener. After learning of the warrant and attempting to arrest Wright, he tried to flee and Potter pulled her gun.
Daily Mail
Potter has since been criminally prosecuted, found guilty, and sentenced to two years in prison for first and second-degree manslaughter.
FOX News
The convicted ex-cop has been transferred to the five-level security Minnesota Correctional Facility - Shakopee, where she will spend at least part of her two-year sentence.
Daily Mail
The settlement will be finalized after an agreement is reached on a "non-monetary" measure that will include free cultural proficiency and implicit bias training for the Brooklyn Center City Police Department.
nytimes

Sources Split

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The Spin

Right narrative

The reason Wright was originally pulled over was due to an outstanding warrant he had for robbing a woman at gunpoint and choking her. While Kim Potter's conviction and sentencing are justified due to her negligence, people should also be talking about how the country has, yet again, been coerced into believing that being killed by a cop makes you a model citizen to be mourned and celebrated.

Law Enforcement Today

Left narrative

Hopefully, this settlement will help black families and people of color feel safer in their communities, thanks to its agreement to provide training for law enforcement on how best to prevent senseless killings like what happened to Wright and so many others at the hands of the police. Police departments continue to murder hundreds of people each year, mostly black people - it's no wonder that there is a "defund the police" perspective in the US.