Over the course of the last several years, Americans have become aware of a disturbing trend in policing, in which unarmed black men are routinely killed by law enforcement officers for reasons that don’t seem to make any sense.
The phenomenon has been so prevalent that a number of organizations have been founded to bring light to the subject in the coming years,
The latest example of the troubling trend comes to us from just outside Minneapolis – a place that is keenly familiar with the sort of riotous, ugly protests that occurred over the last 48 hours.
Now, in an admission that may make this all so much worse, the officer responsible may have been under the impression that she was tasing the victim.
During a press conference Monday afternoon, officials in Brooklyn Center released body camera footage of the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.
The body camera shows police approaching Wright’s vehicle and asking him to step out of the car. They attempt to handcuff him before he pulls away and gets back into his driver’s seat.
After firing the gun, the officer says, “Holy s**t, I just shot him.”
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified that officer Monday evening as Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran with the Brooklyn Center Police Department.
Her superiors appeared to understand what occurred.
“As I watched the video and listen to the officer’s commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet,” Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said. “This appears to me from what I viewed and the officer’s reaction in distress immediately after that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright.”
The new could reignite the violence that has been taking place in the area, as it certainly opens up an opportunity for criticism of the police force.
