President Joe Biden spoke Monday (April 12) following the release of body camera footage of the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Biden called the video “fairly graphic” while speaking on the protests that have erupted across the Minneapolis suburb and ongoing racial injustice.
“The question is, was it an accident? Was it intentional? That remains to be determined,” Biden said to reporters. “We do know that the anger, pain and trauma amidst the Black community is real,” he added.
Minnesota authorities say 26-year police veteran Kim Potter shot and killed Wright during a traffic stop that reportedly started with expired tags and ended with officers discovering a warrant for Wright. Potter shot Wright while attempting to arrest him.
Protests entered their second night on Monday (April 12) after the footage was released by city officials earlier that day. During his remarks on the incident, President Biden called for peaceful protests, sparking criticism online from those who say leaders are more concerned about property damage than deaths of Black people at the hands of police.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz imposed a curfew for Tuesday (April 13) beginning at 7 p.m. and National Guard troops have been deployed to the area. Hundreds of protesters gathered Monday night (April 12) with police reporting 40 arrests.
Brooklyn Center is located in Hennepin County where former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is standing trial in the death of George Floyd last May.
At the time, then-presidential candidate Biden said Floyd’s death was a “tragic reminder that this was not an isolated incident, but part of an ingrained systemic cycle of injustice that still exists in this country,” as reported by The Huffington Post. Criminal justice advocates raised calls to defund and abolish the police following the string of deaths of Black people at the hands of police last year and for decades.
Photo: Getty Images