The officer who shot a black man in the Brooklyn Center near Minneapolis, USA, mistakenly mistook her firearm as an electric taser. Police Chief Tim Gannon announced this during a news conference on Monday.
The death of 20-year-old Don Wright caused great turmoil. Brooklyn Center is a suburb of Minneapolis approximately 10 miles from where black man George Floyd was killed by white cop Derek Chauvin last year. This process is currently in full swing.
Wright was stopped with his car on Sunday for a traffic violation. Then the officers discovered that there was an arrest warrant pending against him. When they tried to arrest Wright, he got back in his car. Then one of the officers shot him.
Camera footage released shows that Wright is fighting his arrest. A policeman calls him “electroshock” several times while he is pointing her firearm at him. The car drove away at the same time the policeman shouted that it had shot him. The car stopped several blocks away. Wright died on the spot. Protests and clashes with police erupted later in the day.
Police declare it was a mistake
Ganon announced at a press conference that a mistake led to Wright’s “tragic death.” “I cannot say anything to ease the pain of his family,” he said.
The governor of Minnesota imposed a curfew on several cities in the region from Monday 7 pm until Tuesday 6 am local time. The killing of Floyd and other black Americans last year sparked a worldwide escalation of protests against racism and police brutality.
