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Police Kill Black Man Daunte Wright During Traffic Stop Near Minneapolis — What to Know

 

Protest against shooting death of Daunte Wright.

Police shot and killed a driver during a traffic stop Sunday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, just minutes away from Minneapolis. The incident immediately landed in a cultural fissure. The man, identified in social media and news reports as Daunte Wright, 20, was Black. This incident happens amid a trial against fired, white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, 44, for the fatal arrest of George Floyd, 46, who was also Black.

The man was pulled over for a traffic violation, and faced an outstanding warrant, Brooklyn Center police said.

Protests immediately followed Wright’s death.

Wright’s family said he was shot and killed after police pulled him over for having an air freshener in the rearview mirror of his mother’s car.

Brooklyn Center police, who did not name Wright, said Sunday that they pulled over a driver for a traffic violation around the 6300 block of Orchard Avenue before 2 p.m. They determined the driver faced an outstanding warrant. They tried to take him into custody, but he went back into the vehicle, police said. One of the officers shot the driver. Officers said the vehicle went several blocks before crashing into another one.

Police said they tried to save the driver, but he died at the scene. The autopsy and formal identification are pending. A woman in the vehicle sustained non-life threatening injuries in the crash, but people in the other vehicle were unhurt. Police said they “believe” body-worn and dash cams were on.

[Image via Stephen Maturen/Getty Images]

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