Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, is a mess. It’s all bad. There’s no good that can come from this situation. The Minneapolis area is about to be racked with more riots as the Derek Chauvin trial nears its conclusion. Chauvin is a former Minneapolis police officer who was involved in the death of George Floyd. Floyd’s death sparked an entire summer of unrest, arson, looting, and outright mayhem across the country. In Brooklyn Center, Duante Wright was shot and killed during a traffic stop. The police officer, Kim Potter, resigned. The police chief also resigned. The city manager was fired by Mayor Mike Elliott after he said that “due process” should be adhered to in this case. Potter thought she was going to fire a taser at Wright as he tried to flee from the police. There was an arrest warrant over a weapons charge and a missed court date. Potter instead pulled her service weapon and shot him in the stomach.
It just added to the mounting tension in the region, which has not yet recovered from the Floyd riots. There can be a debate about police reform. We can’t have that with screaming leftists demanding that all law enforcement be abolished, peppered with pseudointellectual lectures about how policing is racist. It’s not. It also doesn’t help when Mayor Elliott makes suggestions that will get police killed. He said that police shouldn’t be armed during traffic stops.
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota Mayor Mike Elliot:
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 13, 2021
"I don't believe that officers need to necessarily have weapons every time they're making a traffic stop." pic.twitter.com/5lnajSI8ly
Removing and leaving their firearms in the police car is not only unsafe. It’s against department policy in some cases. It’s a naivete that all traffic stops are peaceful. In fact, some people police pull over happen to be very, very bad guys. Drivers who have shot and killed cops. Drivers who have exited their vehicles with firearms.
That’s not to say that now-ex-Officer Potter is absolved because she made a mistake. That’s not a get-out-of-jail card. She has to answer for that tragic error—and it’s likely she’ll get charged given the climate.