Fresh Calls to ‘Defund the Police’ Following Daunte Wright Killing

On Monday, social media was flooded with fresh calls to defund the police force following the police killing of unarmed Black man, Daunte Wright.

Wright was shot and killed in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, after he allegedly got back into his car and attempted to flee from the scene. Wounded, Wright then crashed into another vehicle several blocks away.

According to ABC News, the Minnesota police chief claimed the officer who fired the shot that killed Wright intended to discharge a Taser.

Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, spoke to local news station WCCO about the officer’s reasons for pulling over her son.

“He said they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror. A minute later, I called and his girlfriend answered, which was the passenger in the car, and said that he’d been shot,” she told the news outlet. “He didn’t deserve to be shot and killed like this.”

Wright’s killing sparked protests in Brooklyn Center on Sunday night through Monday morning.

Calls to defund the Minneapolis police quickly gathered momentum following the murder of George Floyd last May. “Defunding the police” means reallocating or redirecting funds from the police department to other government departments funded by the local district.

Brooklyn Center is about 10 miles away from downtown Minneapolis, where a murder trial is underway for former officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin is accused of killing George Floyd after kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

Approximately 200 people later marched to the Brooklyn Center Police Department, Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Commissioner John Harrington said during a news conference.

Dozens more people assembled around the Brooklyn Center Police Department while officers held a line outside the department. CNN reports that some officers were positioned on top of the building.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota called for an “immediate, transparent and independent investigation by an outside agency,” in a series of tweets.

“We have concerns that police appear to have used dangling air fresheners as an excuse for making a pretextual stop, something police do too often to target Black people,” wrote the ACLU of Minnesota.