Police in suburban Minneapolis say an officer fatally shot a driver on Sunday, leading to clashes between protesters and law enforcement officials, CBS Minnesota reports. The deadly encounter and ensuing turmoil came in the middle of the Derek Chauvin trial for George Floyd’s murder.
Police said officers in the City of Brooklyn Center had arrested a driver who they determined had an outstanding warrant just before 2 p.m. Police said when they tried to arrest him, he got back into his car and drove away. An officer fired on the vehicle and hit the driver. Police said the vehicle traveled several blocks before hitting another. No one in that second vehicle was injured.
The driver of the first vehicle was pronounced dead on the spot. Police said officers were wearing activated body cameras at the time of the shooting.
Later in the afternoon, a crowd began to gather at the crash site. Just after 6 p.m., protesters ripped off the crime scene tape, with the crowd and the victim’s family demanding answers from the police.
A woman who said she was the driver’s mother, Katie Wright, told the crowd that her son – 20-year-old Daunte Wright – was the man who was shot. She said Wright’s girlfriend was in the car with him during the traffic stop. Police said the woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the crash and was taken to hospital.
Authorities said the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the name of the man murdered after a preliminary autopsy and after notifying his family.
Protesters later gathered at police headquarters in the Brooklyn Center. Law enforcement formed a human chain to protect the building and began using strobes and tear gas to try to disperse the crowd, CBS Minnesota reporters on site said.
Katie Wright / CBS Minnesota