Fourth night of Minnesota unrest as ex-officer charged with manslaughter
FOX News contributor Ted Williams and Townhall.com senior writer Julio Rosas discuss the demonstrations on ‘Fox News @ Night’
Protesters and police clashed for a fourth straight night Wednesday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, following the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright.
About 24 people were arrested after authorities cleared protesters around the time of Brooklyn Center’s 10 p.m. curfew and after dispersal orders were given, Minnesota State Patrol Col. Matt Langer said in a news conference.
Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Brooklyn Center Police Department as some threw bricks, rocks, milk jugs, shot fireworks, and shined laser pointers at law enforcement, according to authorities and a tweet from Operation Safety Net (OSN), a public safety coalition formed to respond to incidents related to the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin.
Others tried to climb and dismantle the fence that surrounds the building.
“Community members were saying tonight that they wanted the peace kept. They did not want to see their city burn,” Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said, according to OSN. “The crowd presented significant public safety challenges … and to the neighborhood and the people who live there.”
FAST FACTS
- Former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter
- Potter was arrested Wednesday morning for the April 11 shooting death of Wright, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which is investigating the incident
Harrington said some protesters blocked the streets with their vehicles, which could have become a “real crisis” had they prevented emergency services from providing medical assistance to local residents.
Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson said the majority of the people who have been arrested were not Brooklyn Center residents.
The city and surrounding communities issued curfews Wednesday night. Brooklyn Center’s curfew went into effect at 10 p.m.
Law enforcement officers started arresting people who had ignored four dispersal orders to leave the area near the Brooklyn Center Police Department, OSN wrote. Some of the protesters used umbrellas, shields and set up wooden barricades in the streets.
“The number one tool we wanted to use tonight was patience and that’s what we exercised for a long period of time, even though we saw groups coming and fortifying and we saw umbrella … plywood shields and makeshift barricades and blocks and bricks brought in,” said Langer.
For the second night in a row, authorities said there was no looting, and unlike Tuesday, no tear gas was used, according to reports.
Police shot and killed Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a routine traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on Sunday. Kim Potter, the former Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Wright appeared to have intended to fire a Taser, not a handgun, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said.
Potter, a 26-year veteran of the force, was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter. Her first court appearance is scheduled for Thursday.
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