Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was killed by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota during a traffic stop. The father was reportedly pulled over after the officer noticed an issue with the air fresheners hanging on his rearview mirror. The situation escalated and Officer Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran on the force, shot him fatally. She has said that she believed she was holding her taser.
Protests have taken over across Minneapolis as people are outraged that yet another police shooting has taken the life of a promising young man just ten miles away from where George Floyd was killed. According to Daunte’s aunt Naisha Wright, the 20-year-old actually had a personal connection to George Floyd, revealing that one of his teachers was Floyd’s girlfriend.
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“The craziest thing is to find out today that my family has connections to this man, to this family. His girlfriend was a teacher for my nephew,” said Naisha as she was flanked by prominent civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. “My nephew was 20-years-old, 20-years-old. He was loved. He was ours.”
Naisha added that she hopes Officer Kim Potter, who resigned from the police force on Tuesday, is held to the highest accountability for fatally shooting Daunte. “I hope that they hold her at the highest,” she said. “Because she was the law. Protect and serve. Put her in jail, like they would do any of us.”
Watch part of Naisha Wright’s speech below. Rest in peace, Daunte Wright.