U.S.Vice President Kamala D. Harris on Tuesday called for “justice and healing” following the killing on Sunday of an African American man Daunte Wright.
Harris said “law enforcement must be held to the highest standards of accountability,” adding that Mr. Wright “should be alive today.”
Harris made her remarks at the roundtable event on Black Maternal Health Care attended by Ambassador Susan Rice, Director, Domestic Policy Council; Heather Wilson, Executive Director and Founder of Kennedy’s Angel Gowns; Erica McAfee, Founder and CEO of Sisters in Loss; Donna Trim-Stewart, Impacted Mother, Caregiver and Dr. Elizabeth A. Howell, Chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
On Monday night, police fired huge amount of tear gas into crowds of protesters in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis in Minnesota.
The protesters were demanding justice following the killing on Sunday of Daunte Wright just miles away from where George Floyd was killed less than a year ago by the police.
Reporters on the ground described the amount of tear gas and flash bangs fired into the crowds of protesters as unprecedented. Many could not breathe as they filed their reports live on television screens.
“This is the strongest tear gas I have ever faced,” a CNN correspondent was heard as saying.
Earlier in the day, the police in Brooklyn Center said Daunte Wright was killed by accident by a cop who was trying to deploy a taser but rather fired a bullet. The cop was identified as Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran of the police department.
Daunte Wright, who was just 20 years old, was killed during a traffic stop in a suburb of Minneapolis on Sunday by a senior female police officer.
The Brooklyn Center Police Chief, Tim Gannon, said it appears the police officer mistook her taser for her gun and fired a bullet, killing Daunte Wright.
The shooting sparked protests and clashes with police into Monday morning.
At a heated press briefing on Monday, the Police Chief released body-camera video that showed police approaching Mr. Wright’s car. He exits the car and then gets back in as police try to pull him back out, while another officer can be seen pointing a hand gun at Mr. Wright.
The officer was heard repeatedly saying she was going to use her taser. The car speeds away and the officer can be heard saying, “holy shit, I shot him.”
President Biden called for calm on Monday evening. In a tweet, the president said he understood the pain and anger of Black people in America.
“Today I’m thinking about Daunte Wright and his family — and the pain, anger, and trauma that Black America experiences every day. While we await a full investigation, we know what we need to do to move forward: rebuild trust and ensure accountability so no one is above the law,” the president tweeted.
Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.