Daunte Wright Killed by Minnesota Officer Following Traffic Stop

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Daunte Wright, a 20-year old black man, was killed on April 11 by police in Minnesota following a routine traffic stop.

Police officers pulled Daunte Wright over because he had air fresheners hanging from his rear view mirror, or an expired license based on his license plate - accounts vary.

Daunte called his mother immediately after being pulled over and they exchanged in a short conversation. Meanwhile, police at the scene asked to see Daunte's license and then ran a background check. The check revealed that Daunte was wanted by police and had an outstanding warrant for some sort of violent crime though reports seem to differ on what exactly the crime was.

Next, officers asked Daunte to exit his vehicle. Daunte protested. But he did initially exit his vehicle. Next, a confusing set of events ensued; it's clear that Daunte was frightened and attempted to re-enter his car to drive away, to flee the scene.

During this exchange, a white, female officer, with 20+ years experience in the Minnesota police force, on body camera footage is heard to exclaim, "Taser, taser, taser" - presumably because she wanted to prevent Daunte from fleeing with non-lethal force.

Note that exlaming, "Taser! Taser! Taser!" - is exactly protocol that officers are trained for in the Minnesota police department - prior to deploying a taser. This protocol is in effect because it warns other officers to step back to avoid injury to the upcoming taser, and as a last attempt to persuade the resisting suspect to comply.

But instead of deploying her taser, the 20-year veteran white female officer, drew her gun. And, after shouting, "Taser! Taser! Taser!," she shot Daunte Wright dead with her police issued pistol.
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The relevant footage was immediately released by Minnesota police.
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[metalblue]

It’s irrelevant why he was pulled over. He was. It’s irrelevant why he tried to escape. He did. The bloke was next level stupid.

The police officer is also a fucking idiot must face at a minimum voluntary manslaughter charges. I do tend to err towards it was a fuck up rather than a deliberate act of shooting him. Much will be made of where she aimed as well of the audio. A body shot is likely to be considered more consistent with a taser discharge for example. But none of that should excuse her from her actions.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

It’s irrelevant why he was pulled over. He was. It’s irrelevant why he tried to escape. He did. The bloke was next level stupid.

The police officer is also a fucking idiot must face at a minimum voluntary manslaughter charges. I do tend to err towards it was a fuck up rather than a deliberate act of shooting him. Much will be made of where she aimed as well of the audio. A body shot is likely to be considered more consistent with a taser discharge for example. But none of that should excuse her from her actions.

>> It’s irrelevant why he was pulled over.
I disagree that the context of whether or not police in Minnesota are executing pullovers based on race is relevant - rather I think that this is very much relevant. Would a white individual in exactly the same circumstances have been pulled over? If not, then how is unfortunate incident, unconnected to racial bias on the behalf of the Minneapolis police force?

>> The bloke was next level stupid.
He apparently had an arrest warrant out on him - not giving up to police in such a situation - I get it. I don't know that I would have done in a moment of panic in such a situation - but trying my best to escape police custody seems a very likely response.

Next level stupid? Really? If I thought that I could possibly escape - and that the maximum risk to me was tasering - I'd likely have paniced and have attempted to flee the scene. It's not "next level stupid" - it's entirely understandable.

>> The police officer is also a fucking idiot must face at a minimum voluntary manslaughter charges.
I'm not so sure about all of this - it seems to me that she made a horrible mistake - some sort of redress is at issue. But might better police training have prevented this? I really don't know.

For me - it seems that the officer made a big mistake - and accidentally killed a fleeing suspect. It's tragedy all around for sure - but how best should justice be served?
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Voluntary manslaughter as you suggest? I'm not familiar with the grounds for such a charge - but it seems to me that the guilty party made some sort of intentional life-threatening action - for me, this was purely by mistake.
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This incident, for me, was tragic, with both victim and perpetrator victims of horrible circumstance. That Daunte lost his life saddens me - that the white female officer (apparently) made such a tragic mistake - drawing her gun instead of her taser - and then (apparently) killing Daunte on accident - I feel very sorry for her.

Where does justice lie given these events? I honestly do not know.

I feel, though, that punishment for the officer involved is warranted - to mitigate against such future events recurring. Too, I suppose that the police chief must be held accountable.

And yet... the punishments against the officer involved and against the police chief involved - are not per-se based on accountability on on individual basis - the police chief seems to have been following accepted best practice police protocol and the officer involved seems to have simply made a mistake - and so, unfortunately, this tragedy does not affect just the single person killed - but 2 other actors, one of whom made an innocent mistake (apparently) and another who needed to resign out of no fault of his own.

 

[metalblue]

>> It’s irrelevant why he was pulled over.
I disagree that the context of whether or not police in Minnesota are executing pullovers based on race is relevant - rather I think that this is very much relevant. Would a white individual in exactly the same circumstances have been pulled over? If not, then how is unfortunate incident - not connected to racial bias on the behalf of the Minneapolis police force?

>> The bloke was next level stupid.
He apparently had an arrest warrant out on him - not giving up to police in such a situation - I get it. I don't know that I would have done in a moment of panic in such a situation - but escaping police custody seems very unlikely - and that I might somehow be killed attempting to escape - then yes, absolutely, trying to flee seems very stupid.

Next level stupid? Really? If I thought that I could possibly escape - and that the maximum risk to me was tasering - I'd likely have paniced and have attempted to flee the scene. It's not "next level stupid" - it's entirely understandable.

>> The police officer is also a fucking idiot must face at a minimum voluntary manslaughter charges.
I'm not so sure about all of this - it seems to me that she made a horrible mistake - some sort of redress is at issue. But might better police training have prevented this? I really don't know.

For me - it seems that the officer made a big mistake - and accidentally killed a fleeing suspect. It's tragedy all around for sure - but how best should justice be served?
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Voluntary manslaughter as you suggest? I'm not familiar with the grounds for such a charge - but it seems to me that the guilty party made some sort of intentional life-threatening action - for me, this was purely by mistake.

The worst that could happen is not that you would get tasered but that a car chase ensues and you wipe out some family in a car crash because you’re driving like a total ****. What the fuck is wrong with people? Stop trying to be Smokey and the fucking bandit or think your playing some video game - it’s not a game - accept you have been nicked, take your medicine, and deal with it. Let me ask you this, if you are nicked - and they know who you are now - and you decided to scoot off like an F1 driver do you honestly think you won’t get caught? I mean like really honestly.

It is entirely irrelevant why he was pulled over. If he was pulled over for a broken light or something deemed “acceptable” then the fact he tried to then escape and was shot suddenly becomes OK? No of course it doesn’t so that’s why it’s irrelevant.

Voluntary manslaughter for me because she pulled the gun and pulled the trigger. These are not involuntary actions or consequences of your actions. Not murder because she [seemingly] intended to taser him. It really doesn’t matter what I think because justice in the US is not about the facts but about the circus and drama created in a court room. If I was banged up on a serious charge in the US I wouldn’t hire a lawyer I’d hire an actor to represent me.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

>> What the fuck is wrong with people? Stop trying to be Smokey and the fucking bandit or think your playing some video game - it’s not a game - accept you have been nicked, take your medicine, and deal with it. Let me ask you this, if you are nicked - and they know who you are now - and you decided to scoot off like an F1 driver do you honestly think you won’t get caught? I mean like really honestly.

I mostly agree - except that surrender to police is the rational response - but it is not at all the response that might ensue in a moment of sheer panic.

Isn't it foreseeable that a guilty party is going to flee the scene? Indeed - the taser response is just for such circumstances - someone is fleeing - not endangering anyone per-se, to stop him/her with non-lethal force.
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>> It is entirely irrelevant why he was pulled over.
Absolutely not - this goes to the heart of racial profiling/bias.

At best, such racial based pull-overs result in petty charges filed against minorities least able to afford fines.

And, as evinced by what happened here - it results in a disproportionate number of deaths towards individuals pulled over on pretext.
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>> Voluntary manslaughter for me because she pulled the gun and pulled the trigger
I've looked at several meanings for "voluntary manslaughter" - none of the definitions of this crime fit the sequence of events that transpired, based on the video evidence I've seen.

It appears to me that the officer who killed Daunte did not engage in reckless behavior; nor did she intentionally bring about actions causing Daunte's death; instead, she accidently drew her gun instead of her taser, based on video evidence, and then deployed what she thought was her taser - but unfortunately was her gun.

For me, this is an accidental act that lead to an unfortunate death.

 

[BigOscar]

All sounds legit, I carry two sets of keys with me and frequently get the wrong ones out by accident. I rarely then murder someone by using the wrong keys, but then again my keys look and feel slightly different so I can tell straight away, not like a taser and a handgun which are almost indistinguishable until you've fired it

 

[Dax777]

Daunte Wright, a 20-year old black man, was killed on April 11 by police in Minnesota following a routine traffic stop.

Police officers pulled Daunte Wright over because he had air fresheners hanging from his rear view mirror, or an expired license based on his license plate - accounts vary.

Daunte called his mother immediately after being pulled over and they exchanged in a short conversation. Meanwhile, police at the scene asked to see Daunte's license and then ran a background check. The check revealed that Daunte was wanted by police and had an outstanding warrant for some sort of violent crime though reports seem to differ on what exactly the crime was.

Next, officers asked Daunte to exit his vehicle. Daunte protested. But he did initially exit his vehicle. Next, a confusing set of events ensued;


Its clear that Daunte was frightened and attempted to re-enter his car to drive away, to flee the scene.

The 2 bolded points aren't factual. There was nothing about it that was confusing. And it's not clear fright was the motivating factor. Could be but it's not clear.

During this exchange, a white, female officer, with 20+ years experience in the Minnesota police force, on body camera footage is heard to exclaim, "Taser, taser, taser" - presumably because she wanted to prevent Daunte from fleeing with non-lethal force.

Note that exlaming, "Taser! Taser! Taser!" - is exactly protocol that officers are trained for in the Minnesota police department - prior to deploying a taser. This protocol is in effect because it warns other officers to step back to avoid injury to the upcoming taser, and as a last attempt to persuade the resisting suspect to comply.

But instead of deploying her taser, the 20-year veteran white female officer, drew her gun. And, after shouting, "Taser! Taser! Taser!," she shot Daunte Wright dead with her police issued pistol.
===
The relevant footage was immediately released by Minnesota police.
===

Good writeup. But I'd edit the noted above to remove all opinion and stay strictly factual. Not that I'm your editor or anything :)

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

All sounds legit, I carry two sets of keys with me and frequently get the wrong ones out by accident. I rarely then murder someone by using the wrong keys, but then again my keys look and feel slightly different so I can tell straight away, not like a taser and a handgun which are almost indistinguishable until you've fired it

Muscle memory/instinct kicks in.

For example, I've often walked up to my locked apartment door and drew my car key/garage door opener-set combination - and clicked on my garage door opener to open my locked apartment door - ridiculous - how on earth could I make such a mistake?!?

My garage door opener button is nothing at all like the key necessary to open my apartment door?

So why did I make such a mistake?
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Muscle memory.
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And if I make such a mistake, trying to open my appartment door...

Then why, isn't it at all possible that an officer, under stress, could mistake his or her gun for a taser - leading to the death of another individual?

Was this act intentional - especially after the officer involved (a 20+ year veteran with, so far as I'm aware - having no record of racial bias) and, having exclaimed, "Taser, Taser Taser!" - I don't get why you fail to think that the officer involved thought that she held her taser in hand - as opposed to her gun. And if you think that the officer thought that she held her taser, why you think that this event rises to the level of voluntary manslaughter.

 

[Dax777]

All sounds legit, I carry two sets of keys with me and frequently get the wrong ones out by accident. I rarely then murder someone by using the wrong keys, but then again my keys look and feel slightly different so I can tell straight away, not like a taser and a handgun which are almost indistinguishable until you've fired it

What are you suggesting? That she's pulling a fast one? And really she was just a racist out and about looking for a black man to kill on camera?

That's what you are going with? Okay.

 

[SWP's back]

There is already a 20 page discussion on this in BLM thread gents.