“The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah weighed in on the police killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright and the violent arrest of Army lieutenant Caron Nazario in Monday’s episode of the show.
Former officer Kim Potter resigned from her position after she shot and killed Wright while trying to make an arrest. Potter claims that she reached for her Taser but instead grabbed her gun.
“You have got to be f*cking kidding me,” Noah said. “A man was killed at a traffic stop because the police officer mixed up their gun and their Taser. Is that even supposed to be a legitimate excuse? Like, we’re supposed to watch that and go, ‘Ah, OK, one time I used sugar instead of salt so I can relate.’ Look, I’m not saying that tragic mistakes will never happen, but what I am saying is that maybe if the police weren’t so quick to draw any weapon then maybe people wouldn’t die because of a mixup from Officer Urkel over here.”
On Thursday, Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Nazario, a Black and Latino second lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps, was arrested by two white police officers in December while in uniform.
Officers approached the vehicle with their weapons already drawn and instructed Nazario to “Keep your hands outside the vehicle.” Nazario was ordered to step outside the vehicle and can be heard on the police bodycam informing the officers that he was afraid to exit his SUV. He was pepper-several times.
Nazario says to the officers: “I’m serving this country and this is how I’m treated? What’s going on?” to which one of the officers responds, “What’s going on is you’re fixing to ride the lightning, son.”
Bodycam footage of the incident was only released to the public last week, sparking nationwide outrage. Nazario is now suing both officers involved in the arrest.
“And don’t forget, this is how cops treated one of the troops. The troops,” Noah said. “While he was wearing his uniform, not a hoodie, not baggy pants. So what’s the excuse this time? I mean, if a Black man in military uniform can’t get humane treatment from the police, then what chance does every other Black person in America have? At this point, Black people should just start singing ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ when they get pulled over, then maybe, just maybe, the cops will be like, ‘Well, I don’t want to pepper spray the anthem, what do I do?'”
Watch Noah’s impassioned speech below.
