Protests took place in several cities on Tuesday evening following the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, who was killed on April 11 during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
The Washington County Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday that it will charge former police officer Kim Potter, who fatally shot Wright, with second-degree manslaughter, according to prosecutor Pete Orput. Both Potter and the chief of the Brooklyn Center Police Department resigned on Tuesday.
Protesters clashed with law enforcement on Tuesday night in Brooklyn Center, where around 60 were arrested. Police in Portland, Oregon, declared a riot after protesters set a fire to a police union.
On Monday, the former police chief said he believes Potter meant to pull out a Taser when Wright was shot and called the incident an “accidental discharge.” The official county medical examiner ruled Wright’s death a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the chest
Former Police Chief Tim Gannon said he believed Potter mistakenly grabbed her pistol when she was trying to pull out her Taser. Authorities gave an update on Monday, calling the fatal shooting an “accidental discharge.”