The Families of George Floyd and Daunte Wright Join Forces

Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice

Protestors took to the streets of Brooklyn Center for the third night in a row since a police officer shot and killed Daunte Wright. According to the Brooklyn Center police chief, Officer Kim Potter accidentally grabbed her gun instead of her taser.

Wright’s family was joined by the family of George Floyd and other victims of police violence in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday. Floyd’s nephew Brandon Williams said the officer’s “so-called mistake” is “unacceptable.”

“Can you blame Daunte for being terrified as a black man in the custody of police, when you just watched George Floyd murdered?” asked Williams. “At some point we need change. At some point, we need better policing. At some point we need officers to be held accountable, charged, convicted.”

According to Brooklyn Center’s mayor, both Officer Potter and Chief Gannon have resigned from the city’s police department.

Meanwhile, the state rested its case in the Derek Chauvin murder trial, allowing the defense to begin calling up its own witnesses. Use of force expert Barry Brodd testified that Chauvin’s actions last May were “objectively reasonable.”

“I felt that Derek Chauvin was justified, was acting with objective reasonableness, following Minneapolis Police Department policy and current standards of law enforcement in his interactions with Mr. Floyd,” said Brodd.

Brodd’s testimony countered those of the state’s witnesses, who said that Chauvin’s use of force was unnecessary and acted against the Minneapolis Police Department’s policy.

Samantha HoangLong reporting for the Racial Reckoning project.