The City of Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, has settled with a family for the wrongful death of their loved one at the hands of one of the town’s police officers. In addition to monetary compensation, the settlement includes training reforms to prevent such tragedies in the future.
On Tuesday, June 21, the municipality with approximately 34,000 residents settled a lawsuit filed by the family of Daunte Wright, a man fatally shot by former officer Kim Potter on April 11, 2021. The settlement amount is $3.2 million, the Daily News reported.
The 20-year-old motorist succumbed to injuries after being shot by Potter, who allegedly mistook her firearm for a Taser gun when she killed him during a traffic stop.
Since the shooting, the 26-year veteran officer has been convicted of two counts of manslaughter (first-degree and second-degree); she was sentenced in February 2022 to two years in prison.
A police bodycam video captures her screaming “Taser,” multiple times before she fires her pistol and kills Wright.
Wright’s parents said in a statement, “Nothing can explain or fill the emptiness in our lives without Daunte or our continued grief at the senseless way he died. But in his name, we will move forward, and it was important to us that his loss be used for positive change in the community, not just for a financial settlement for our family.”
The city has also agreed to put into place policing changes including, “so-called pretextual traffic stops for non-moving equipment violations, according to the lawyers, “that (does) not interfere with the safety of the driver, passenger, or members of the community.”
Link to original The Black Detour