4/14/21 Daunte Wright's Killer Resigns, and So Does Her Supervisor

It has been a while since a captain went down with his ship (on purpose, anyway) or a losing general fell on his sword. Still, we had a modern-day equivalent this week. In the wake of Daunte Wright's tragic death during a traffic stop on Sunday, Police Officer Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center police force, and her boss, police chief Tim Gannon, both resigned Tuesday.

The town council had already fired the city manager in charge of police personnel; Mayor Mike Elliott had to step up to the task. Shortly afterwards, Elliott says, he asked the governor to assign the case to the state attorney general. Since Brooklyn Center is already burning with rage and rioters, the farther away the trial takes place, the better.

The story began Sunday with the end of Wright's life. The police stopped Wright, who was with his girlfriend, for a traffic violation -- an expired registration sticker or a deodorizing hang tag on his rear-view mirror, depending on who's talking.

During the traffic stop, the police discovered that Wright had an outstanding arrest warrant. That meant they had to arrest Wright, but Wright wasn't ready to cooperate. He got back in his car, prepared to drive off. To stop him, Officer Potter shouted "Taser! Taser! Taser!" -- and then fired her gun. Her next words were "Holy s---! I just shot him!" She said it was a mistake.

Right about now, everybody from Brooklyn Center to Honolulu has lined up behind one of two points of view: 1) People who loved Wright and/or hate police; activists for social justice; and people who can't understand how someone could mistake a gun for a taser. 2) People who are either sympathetic to the police or who are willing to give Potter the benefit of the doubt, possibly because they personally have klutzed out at a tense moment.

Since Potter and Gannon resigned voluntarily, the gesture suggests that they regret what happened, and want to say so in the most public way possible.

Whether you want to give them the benefit of the doubt on that one is up to you.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brooklyn-center-police-chief-tim-gannon-resigns_n_6075df59e4b063a4194a8481?fbclid=IwAR3UUzK1DwxRlG6E42oSE2u8Mw3BZWUfuiQlOu0wqE2GzFU9tpee05JblVA