By Jenna Bagcal
Days after a former Minnesota police officer fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, Queens community members voiced their grief for the young Black man with some calling for action to defund the police.
On Sunday, April 11, Brooklyn Center police reported that Wright was pulled over for expired registration tags on the car he was driving and added that they later found air fresheners hanging from the rear view mirror, a violation under a law in Minnesota and at least six other states in the country.
In a statement, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said that officers also found Wright had a “gross misdemeanor warrant” for missing a court appearance.
But according to a call Wright made to his mother, police told him that he was only stopped for the hanging air freshener.
Body camera footage showed that as Wright re-entered his car after the traffic stop and attempted to drive off, 26-year police veteran Kim Potter shot at Wright with what she allegedly believed to be her Taser. The car went several blocks before striking another car and shortly after, Wright was declared dead at the scene.
Multiple reports confirmed that both Potter and Gannon resigned two days after the incident.
