Brian Peters, executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, one of the largest police union groups in the state blamed 20-year-old Daunte Wright for his own death.
“This is going to be an unpopular statement,” Peters told WCCO news talk radio on Wednesday. “Daunte Wright, if he would have just complied. He was told he was under arrest. They were arresting him on a warrant for weapons. He set off a chain of events that unfortunately led to his death.”
“I’m not excusing it. But what we’re seeing in policing these days is that non-compliance by the public,” he added.
In the wake of Sunday’s shooting, Brooklyn Center’s mayor Mike Elliott fired city manager Curt Boganey, the officer involved in the shooting Kim Potter and the department’s former chief Tim Gannon has resigned.
On Wednesday, Peters slammed local officials for their handling of the shooting.
“This is way over his head,” said Peters. “Both Curt Bogany and Tim Gannon were political pawns in whatever game the current mayor is playing. If I were the mayor, I would not allow the political activists run the show.”
“If you watch that press conference, you can see the community activists ran that press conference,” he said.
Officer Potter has been charged with second-degree manslaughter for Wright’s shooting, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said on Wednesday.
