The white police who shot and killed a black man in a Minneapolis suburb and the local Minneapolis police chief resigned Tuesday, what the local mayor called steps leading to reconciliation after two nights of protests and riots.
Officer Kim Potter and Police Chief Tim Gannon resigned two days after the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in the Brooklyn Center town.
Potter, who had been in the force for 26 years, was on administrative leave following the event that compounded tensions in an already nervous area amid the trial of four police officers charged in the death last year of George Floyd, who was also black.
Gannon has stated that Potter apparently fired her real gun by mistake and that what she was trying to do was fire her stun gun, or Taser. In the video of the event she is heard yelling “Taser! Taser!”.
Brooklyn Center Mayor, Mike Elliott, said he “appreciated” that Potter gave up her resignation but he had not asked for that.
He added that he did not know if she decided to do it because she thought she would be fired. He affirmed that he hopes that the resignation “will bring some calm to the community” but that he will still continue to fight for “full justice.”
“That is what we will continue to try to achieve,” Elliott said. “We have to make sure justice is served, that’s what Daunte Wright deserves, that’s what his family deserves.”
He added that the police headquarters will try to work with community leaders and with the protesters, who denounce that Wright was called by the police for the simple fact of being black.
“We hope we can turn the page, I am confident about it now,” he said.
Wright was shot as police officers tried to arrest him based on an outstanding warrant.
“I’ll hit you with the Taser! I’ll hit you with the Taser!” Shouts the officer in the video taken by the body camera. When Wright breaks away from the cops and returns to his vehicle, the police shoot him.
Then the vehicle leaves in a hurry and the agent is heard exclaiming “Oh dear! I shot him! ”
Potter drafted a single paragraph letter of resignation: “I have loved every minute of being a police officer and have served this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of this community, the department, and my comrades, in the force that I resign immediately”.