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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMom: Minnesota Cops Killed Son After Stopping Him on an Air-Freshener Violation
Police in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center fatally shot a Black 20-year-old man during a traffic stop on Sunday afternoon, setting off a string of violent protests amid tensions over the Derek Chauvin murder trial.
The victims mother spent much of Sunday afternoon at the scene of the fatal shooting, pleading with officers to remove the body of her son, Daunte Wright, from the pavement.
He got out of the car, and his girlfriend said they shot him, Katie Wright said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He got back in the car, and he drove away and crashed and now hes dead on the ground since 1:47... Nobody will tell us anything. Nobody will talk to us... I said please take my son off the ground.
The victims mother said her son called her during the traffic stop she said was tied to the presence of air fresheners hanging in the car, which is an offense in Minnesota. He called me at about 1:30. He said he was getting pulled over by the police. And I said why you getting pulled over. And he said they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from his rear-view mirror. I said, OK take them down, Wright said, adding that she could hear a scuffle break out and someone yelling, Daunte, dont run. When she called back, her son was dead.
... more ...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/daunte-wrights-mom-says-minnesota-police-killed-her-son-over-an-air-freshener-violation
WTF? An air freshener is illegal?
Response to UpInArms (Original post)
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malaise
(267,808 posts)Enjoy your stay
HipChick
(25,485 posts)aka Driving while black
MrsCoffee
(5,801 posts)Are you fucking kidding me?
11 Bravo
(23,922 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,272 posts)... stops when being profiled.
Like didnt signal soon enough for a turn or license plate light not fully illuminated
Otherwise know as driving while black
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)Throck
(2,520 posts)The bogus dumb law is that an air freshener blocks your view and is distracting if hung from your rear view mirror. Same would apply to fuzzy dice and graduation tassels. Unless the air freshener was 8x10 inches or reflective I'm not seeing a problem. Seems like a vague overreaching arbitrarily enforced law written by a bunch of morons.
Argue with a cop, get shot.
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)Throck
(2,520 posts)Iris
(15,632 posts)TwilightZone
(25,342 posts)Hanging anything from a rearview mirror in Minnesota is illegal.
https://www.crookstontimes.com/news/20181231/minnesota-state-patrol-ask-trooper8200whats-law-regarding-hanging-objects-from-your-rear-view-mirror
mindem
(1,580 posts)I was pulled over a few years back for having a Handicap sign hanging on my mirror. I'm an old white guy.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,059 posts)in a vehicle driven by a AA driver.
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)BlueSpot
(851 posts)gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)USALiberal
(10,877 posts)wnylib
(21,146 posts)Veteran cop, maybe so used to reaching for a gun in her experience that she automatically reached for it when intending to reach for the taser. Was it so imperative to stop him that a taser was even necessary?
Wouldn't she feel the difference once the gun was in her hands?
On any job, some mistakes are minor. Some are major and call for termination, especially when the mistake causes loss of life.
3Hotdogs
(12,207 posts)Stuff, like the dancing hula girl on the dashboard or rear deck (these were popular in the 50's) are also traffic violations.
The police report will state, "I was in fear of my life because he was furtively reaching for his waistband."
harumph
(1,871 posts)wnylib
(21,146 posts)him a threat to society? Even if that was the case, it is customary to arrest someone, read them their rights, put them in jail, and have a trial.
It is not customary for cops to be judge, jury, and executioner in the moment. Unless you are Black.
If it was an accident, she is mot competent to have the use of a gun in public and should not be a cop. At the very least, she should be terminated for incompetence. Maybe charged with manslaughter.
Celerity
(42,649 posts)brewens
(13,396 posts)I see people with their masks hanging from the mirror all over. I'm going for a walk in awhile. I'm going to see just how many cars have something hanging from the mirror. It's illegal here too, but it's an almost all white area.
Here you'd get pulled over late on a weekend no matter what race for that kind of thing. The cops are relentless hunting drunk drivers. During the day, no way they mess with you for that.
samsingh
(17,571 posts)Now that the justice department works for the people again, they MUST act immediately. No tolerance for any cop who kills a black person ANYWHERE in America. Hit the chain of command as well.
NOW.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)No arrest, no charges, no trial, just shoot on sight.
But only if you're black.
I'm sick of these bullshit laws that give police any stupid reason to pull you over so they can harass you.
I don't know about other places, but here in Pueblo, Colorado our police officers take *forever* to respond to a call, claiming they don't have manpower, etc. It seems to me that taking the time to pull someone over for one of these made-up to harass people laws isn't a very good use of their time.
I'm just seething.
Rorey
(8,445 posts)Do you have to be dumber than a rock to be a cop in Minnesota?
I thought the use of deadly force was supposed to be in response to a threat. Once again a police officer decided that his job included being judge and executioner. He took a young man's life, ruined the lives of his family, and in the process he probably ended his own career as a police officer and brought a lot of pain to his own family.
I've spent a lot of time in the Twin Cities, but I'm thinking it's off my list of places to visit now. One horrible incident after another.
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)Rorey
(8,445 posts)In the time since I posted, more information came out.
IF it's the case that their tasers look that similar to their firearms, that needs to change. I would imagine more information will come out to explain her stupid mistake, including where she carried her taser.
Whatever the case, it's a frightening thought that someone who acted so poorly under the stress of the situation was carrying a lethal weapon. Minnesota already had enough problems. Now one more POC is dead, there will be more unrest, and many lives are forever changed.
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)This much. I imagine I would really hope that this officer feels terrible and Will probably never really really get over it ever.
Bengus81
(6,907 posts)Or is it just Michigan?? Against the law to have a air freshener hanging down from the mirror? And people think Kansas is fucked up?!?!
Do they pull over white guys in their $60k SUV and blow them away if they have a big ass GPS stuck to the windshield?
Treefrog
(4,170 posts)A warrant for armed robbery. And he had missed his probation meeting.
Rorey
(8,445 posts)I could be wrong, but I don't think that's the same as "armed" robbery.
Editing after research: It may have been armed, under the definition.
UpInArms
(51,252 posts)Klaralven
(7,510 posts)https://www.nytimes.com/article/daunte-wright-death-minnesota.html
greenjar_01
(6,477 posts)He didn't deserve to be shot, obviously, but this wasn't a car freshener issue.
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)169.71 WINDSHIELD.
Subdivision 1.Prohibitions generally; exceptions. (a) A person shall not drive or operate any motor vehicle with:
(1) a windshield cracked or discolored to an extent to limit or obstruct proper vision;
(2) any objects suspended between the driver and the windshield, other than:
(i) sun visors;
(ii) rearview mirrors;
(iii) driver feedback and safety monitoring equipment when mounted immediately behind, slightly above, or slightly below the rearview mirror;
(iv) global positioning systems or navigation systems when mounted or located near the bottommost portion of the windshield;
(v) electronic toll collection devices; and
(vi) an identifying device as provided in section 169.58, subdivision 5, when the device is mounted or located near the bottommost portion of the windshield;
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/169.71
So no air fresheners, crucifixes, girlfriends panties, fuzzy dice, etc. dangling from the rearview mirror.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,846 posts)So the cops later made it about an expired registration and an existing warrant... conveniently not mentioning the "air freshener violation" that started it all! They obviously didn't mention it because of the even worse optics.
Scruffy1
(3,239 posts)The cops there were complete assholes and haven't improved a bit. It's an inner ring suburb attached to North Minneapolis. At the time I worked nights until 3:00 AM and I can remember being pulled over for no reason several times just because I was coming home at 3:30 AM. They often just invent a "pretext" just like they did in this case. Things like one license plate light out, or some completely made up BS. This "pretext" bullshit seems like an unsolvable problem because cops can just make stuff up. I was once ticketed for not stopping at a red light after I stopped and waited for four or five cars. The real crime was giving a black friend a ride home. I remember being glad to get the hell out of Brooklyn Center.