Shooting Of Daunte Wright, Center Brooklyn Police Chief And Members Resign

Illustration of a rally against the shooting. (Wikimedia Commons/Mike Shaheen)

JAKARTA - Kim Potter, the police officer who shot dead Daunte Wright, a black man in an incident in suburban Minneapolis, along with local Police Chief Tim Gannon resigned from the police service.

Potter, who state authorities say shot dead Daunte Wright on Sunday during a traffic raid, and Police Chief Tim Gannon - who told reporters Monday that Potter apparently mistook his gun for a Taser during the shooting, resigned in the wake of protests over the incident.

However, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott, who previously told CBS he would fire him, said he had not yet accepted Potter's resignation.

"We are conducting an internal process, we are responsible for the steps we need to take," Elliott told reporters, as quoted by CNN on Wednesday, April 14.

The resignation letter came after the second night of protests rocked the city, with hundreds of demonstrators expressing outrage over The Death of Daunte Wright. Some of them were involved in clashes with police officers.

Elliott told CBS he wants everyone to stay home. However, He also said he would protect the right of people to gather peacefully.

Wright's death adds to the list of police-related black men's deaths in Minneapolis in the past five years. Previously, there were Philando Castile shootings in Falcon Heights in 2016 and George Floyd in Minneapolis last year.

"There's a lot of chaos going on right now. We're just trying to resolve the situation and try to create calm," said Tony Gruenig, who was appointed acting police chief when introduced by Elliott.

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Paul Sableman)

Protests near the Brooklyn Police Department against the shooting are continuing. Police fired tear gas and weapons to disperse the protesters. Police also received reports of break-ins and looting. Local authorities said as of Tuesday there were 40 people detained

Earlier, Wright and his girlfriend Sunday afternoon were driving to his older brother's house, when police stopped him at the Brooklyn Center because the license plate had expired, police said. Officers learned he had an outstanding warrant and tried to handcuff him as he stood outside his car, police said. It was not immediately clear what the warrant was for.

Body camera footage released Monday shows Wright standing outside his vehicle with his hands behind his back and an officer right behind him, trying to handcuff him. An officer told Wright "don't," before Wright turned around and returned to the driver's seat of the car. Tim Gannon, the police chief until Tuesday, said on Monday that from the video it appears Wright was trying to leave.

The officer whose camera footage is released is heard warning the man that he will use a Taser on him, before repeatedly shouting, "Taser! Taser! Taser!" Later, the officer is heard shouting, "I just shot him."

The car door closed, and Wright left. The car crashed a few blocks away, police said. Police and medical personnel tried to save lives after the crash, but Wright died at the scene, Gannon said.

Gannon's team said part of the body-worn camera footage released Monday led him to believe that the shooting was accidental and that the officer's actions before the shooting were consistent with the department's training on Tasers.

Wright's father, Aubrey Wright, told ABC on Tuesday he could not accept Gannon's explanation if Sunday's shooting was accidental.

'I can't accept it's a mistake. That doesn't sound right," he told ABC on 'Good Morning America'.