Daunte Wright shot with Taser. And by "taser," I mean, "Gun."

[Loren Pechtel]

It is highly doubtful that Wright was pulled over for an outstanding warrant. The police were probably just on a fishing expedition or bored and used the expired tags as a pretext to pull over someone. They run your plates and license AFTER they pull you over. When they pulled that vehicle over, for all they knew, it was not Wright driving it. So please don't give me his outstanding warrant as justification for pulling him over. They didn't know. They weren't looking for him. He had not just committed a crime.

EDIT: Wright was driving his brother's car. The police officer who pulled him over was a trainee and Potter was also in the car. He was pulled over for expired tags on his brother's car and also because the trainee noticed an air freshener strip hanging (a MN violation).

Plates can be run before a stop--either from a cop simply running plates he sees or from an automatic plate reader running every plate the camera gets. However, that only identifies the registered owner, there's no way his warrant was relevant if he wasn't in his car.

However, expired plates are a perfectly good reason to stop a car. Experience has shown that people with minor violations like that are very disproportionately likely to have committed more serious issues also.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I know darn well they didn’t run my plates before I was pulled over. It was my car, I was driving it and the plates, registration, etc. were all in order. Whoever they were looking for would not have been in my car.

You don't know that--you're assuming they knew what car they were looking for. Your stop makes perfectly good sense if they're after someone who was seen driving a car like yours and your appearance wasn't obviously not the person they were after. The plate coming back to not-them doesn't mean they didn't steal your car.

There has been a great deal of discussion on this board about all the reasons young black men are arrested at such high rates, often for offenses that White people are not charged with. This starts as early as preschool when children are reprimanded and punished more severely for more minor infractions than their white counterparts. This only escalated throughout schooling. Perhaps you’ve never witnessed a child unfairly scapegoated but I have, as a child.

It's not that they are arrested for things a white person wouldn't be, but that they're more obvious about committing the offenses and so get caught. Drugs on the street corner--easy fishing. Drugs behind closed doors--much harder, and thus a much lower catch rate.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Innocent until proven guilty unless your black right Derec? Got it.

I think his point was that that video basically speaks for itself. That sort of video pretty much shows he's a criminal of some kind.

 

[Toni]

It is highly doubtful that Wright was pulled over for an outstanding warrant. The police were probably just on a fishing expedition or bored and used the expired tags as a pretext to pull over someone. They run your plates and license AFTER they pull you over. When they pulled that vehicle over, for all they knew, it was not Wright driving it. So please don't give me his outstanding warrant as justification for pulling him over. They didn't know. They weren't looking for him. He had not just committed a crime.

EDIT: Wright was driving his brother's car. The police officer who pulled him over was a trainee and Potter was also in the car. He was pulled over for expired tags on his brother's car and also because the trainee noticed an air freshener strip hanging (a MN violation).

Plates can be run before a stop--either from a cop simply running plates he sees or from an automatic plate reader running every plate the camera gets. However, that only identifies the registered owner, there's no way his warrant was relevant if he wasn't in his car.

However, expired plates are a perfectly good reason to stop a car. Experience has shown that people with minor violations like that are very disproportionately likely to have committed more serious issues also.

Right. My point is twofold: Wright was not driving his own car so police would have no idea that there was a warrant for his arrest from running the plates. The other is that at the time, many communities, including in Minnesota, police had suspended pulling vehicles over for expired plates because of COVID: DMVs had shortened hours or no hours for a while and everyone was having trouble getting their tags renewed. I remember being VERY fortunate that my tags were renewed before things hit the fan.....

 

[Toni]

I know darn well they didn’t run my plates before I was pulled over. It was my car, I was driving it and the plates, registration, etc. were all in order. Whoever they were looking for would not have been in my car.

You don't know that--you're assuming they knew what car they were looking for. Your stop makes perfectly good sense if they're after someone who was seen driving a car like yours and your appearance wasn't obviously not the person they were after. The plate coming back to not-them doesn't mean they didn't steal your car.

There has been a great deal of discussion on this board about all the reasons young black men are arrested at such high rates, often for offenses that White people are not charged with. This starts as early as preschool when children are reprimanded and punished more severely for more minor infractions than their white counterparts. This only escalated throughout schooling. Perhaps you’ve never witnessed a child unfairly scapegoated but I have, as a child.

It's not that they are arrested for things a white person wouldn't be, but that they're more obvious about committing the offenses and so get caught. Drugs on the street corner--easy fishing. Drugs behind closed doors--much harder, and thus a much lower catch rate.

What? You don't think white people deal drugs on the street? Even I have seen white people deal/buy on my small city street. FFS, just around the corner, for a while, someone in a rental property was obviously dealing and it took the neighborhood MONTHS to get the police to do anything about it. And I live in a fairly nice neighborhood.

 

[Derec]

Right. My point is twofold: Wright was not driving his own car so police would have no idea that there was a warrant for his arrest from running the plates.

Good thing then they stopped him and ran his license. Or do you not want gun criminals taken off the street?

DMVs had shortened hours or no hours for a while and everyone was having trouble getting their tags renewed.

People still go to renew their tags in person? I have been doing it online for years. Even emissions are uploaded to DMV electronically.

 

[Derec]

What? You don't think white people deal drugs on the street?

Of course some are. But they are also the ones getting busted.

 

[Derec]

I agree that making stupid choices can lead to more than you bargained for. I also agree that any decision you make can lead to more than you bargain for because I live in the real world.

It's about probability. Surrendering has an orders of magnitude smaller chance of a very bad outcome compared with running/resisting arrest.

 

[Derec]

The witness statement (according to the police report) described what Daunta was wearing

When I use first names people (Toni especially) are on my case saying that it is "racist" to refer to people like him by his first name since I did not know him socially. I notice you get a pass for that. At least I was respectful enough to spell Daunte's name correctly.

 

[Derec]

But this is messed up life. People shooting, dying, suing people alive, suing dead people.

 

[Derec]

Because apparently there was a lot of confusion over whether or not he received notice of the hearing. The court system did not notify him of a zoom hearing or date/time, much less verify that he had computer access to a computer and internet that would support a zoom meeting. Please note: this was during the pandemic when a lot of government services were limited.

That claim has been debunked.

 

[Derec]

Very good question. I don't understand why a Judge would go with a gross misdemeanor warrant for someone facing felony charges at that time. Surely there is a reason for that.
Anyhow, I highly doubt the Black Ruger .45 found in the car he fled from was Daunte's. It looks nothing like the gun in the video you posted but the gun in the video does look like the one the victim of his attempted robbery described.

It could be that a "friend" was trying to frame him to get focus off himself. It could also be that he possessed another gun. The black and silver gun from the video/robbery would presumably have been taken into evidence.

 

[Derec]

So, I bet that we could go back and dig up quite a number of situations where wealthy white men are charged for something, and Derec argues passionately (and still just as wrongly) that being charged, alone, is not sufficient for such aspersions as are layered upon those people there.

To be fair, I have done the same for black men charged with crimes. And women too.

I think the evidence against Daunte here is pretty strong. His friend and accomplice, Emajay Driver, plead guilty.

Yet being charged for a black man warrants a death sentence.

Classic Jarhynesque strawmanning. Nobody is saying that. He did not receive a death sentence; he was killed accidentally while fleeing arrest.
He should have let police arrest him. Then he would have had his day in court and full presumption of innocence. And now? Not.

You know, somewhere in the world, there's video evidence of me doing very nutty things with a rifle. If camera phones had been big in '07 there would be footage of me being uncharacteristically violent and unhinged.

Did you too try robbing a woman off her rent money right afterwards?

I'm sure that, displayed, one could paint a picture of me as a violent sociopathic timebomb.

Oh, I believe that picture implicitly.

I'm sure if I had full access to the film reel of Derec's life, I could paint quite a picture indeed!

Not as exciting as the picture of your life, I am sure. No pushing people in subways or being irresponsible with firearms.

The fact is, you can paint any picture of anyone by taking parts and elements of their lives out of context, especially when someone lives in a culture where the way to compliment a thing is often to threaten to steal it, among other such false expressions of hostile intent.

Now that's an excuse for a robbery I had not heard before! Your honor, I did not mean to rob her, I was merely admiring her bra rent money and wanted to compliment her on it. It's my culture! Him choking her just shows how sincere his compliment was ...

 

[Derec]

It's a good thing the police found that gun on the scene where he was killed. Right? Right, Derec?

Had a gun been found on him, Potter would not have been on trial. Not even in Keith Ellison's Minnesota.

 

[Derec]

Innocent until proven guilty unless your black right Derec? Got it.

Not unless you are black. The evidence he is guilty is overwhelming. And even you acknowledged that you believe that Daunte committed a robbery.

 

[thebeave]

Right. My point is twofold: Wright was not driving his own car so police would have no idea that there was a warrant for his arrest from running the plates.

Good thing then they stopped him and ran his license. Or do you not want gun criminals taken off the street?

DMVs had shortened hours or no hours for a while and everyone was having trouble getting their tags renewed.

People still go to renew their tags in person? I have been doing it online for years. Even emissions are uploaded to DMV electronically.

Derec, how quickly you forget. Its different for white people. Black people don't know how to use the internet, much less afford it. You need to get with the program.

 

[Toni]

Right. My point is twofold: Wright was not driving his own car so police would have no idea that there was a warrant for his arrest from running the plates.

Good thing then they stopped him and ran his license. Or do you not want gun criminals taken off the street?

DMVs had shortened hours or no hours for a while and everyone was having trouble getting their tags renewed.

People still go to renew their tags in person? I have been doing it online for years. Even emissions are uploaded to DMV electronically.

Derec, how quickly you forget. Its different for white people. Black people don't know how to use the internet, much less afford it. You need to get with the program.

I renew my tags in person all the time. I live in a small town which is also the county seat. There is virtually never a line.

Aside from that, in my state, ALL the DMVs were short staffed, had short hours and online registrations were taking FOREVER because of the pandemic. THAT is why my state and some others (including Minnesota) were telling police not to pull people over for expired tags. It put the officers and the drivers at greater risk for COVID exposure AND it was likely that the person was not able to renew their tags in person OR on line.

 

[Toni]

What? You don't think white people deal drugs on the street?

Of course some are. But they are also the ones getting busted.

White people in your area get busted for dealing drugs on the street? Where I live, not so much and it's a very, very white place.

 

[Elixir]

Right. My point is twofold: Wright was not driving his own car so police would have no idea that there was a warrant for his arrest from running the plates.

Good thing then they stopped him and ran his license. Or do you not want gun criminals taken off the street?

DMVs had shortened hours or no hours for a while and everyone was having trouble getting their tags renewed.

People still go to renew their tags in person? I have been doing it online for years. Even emissions are uploaded to DMV electronically.

Derec, how quickly you forget. Its different for white people. Black people don't know how to use the internet, much less afford it. You need to get with the program.

I renew my tags in person all the time. I live in a small town which is also the county seat. There is virtually never a line.

Aside from that, in my state, ALL the DMVs were short staffed, had short hours and online registrations were taking FOREVER because of the pandemic. THAT is why my state and some others (including Minnesota) were telling police not to pull people over for expired tags. It put the officers and the drivers at greater risk for COVID exposure AND it was likely that the person was not able to renew their tags in person OR on line.

In the utopian autocracy of the right wing, when there's some black person too dumb or oppressed to use the internet to renew registration but still insisting on using the roads paid for by white people, the police would be allowed to just shoot 'em and call for cleanup. No muss, no fuss, no messy court cases.

 

[Toni]

I know darn well they didn’t run my plates before I was pulled over. It was my car, I was driving it and the plates, registration, etc. were all in order. Whoever they were looking for would not have been in my car.

You don't know that--you're assuming they knew what car they were looking for. Your stop makes perfectly good sense if they're after someone who was seen driving a car like yours and your appearance wasn't obviously not the person they were after. The plate coming back to not-them doesn't mean they didn't steal your car.

There has been a great deal of discussion on this board about all the reasons young black men are arrested at such high rates, often for offenses that White people are not charged with. This starts as early as preschool when children are reprimanded and punished more severely for more minor infractions than their white counterparts. This only escalated throughout schooling. Perhaps you’ve never witnessed a child unfairly scapegoated but I have, as a child.

It's not that they are arrested for things a white person wouldn't be, but that they're more obvious about committing the offenses and so get caught. Drugs on the street corner--easy fishing. Drugs behind closed doors--much harder, and thus a much lower catch rate.

Oh, Loren give it up. If they had stolen my car, I would have reported it. There was no stolen vehicle report on my car because I would have had to make it. They were obviously looking for someone who drove a car very similar to mine. They were obviously surprised to see me in the driver's seat. They tried to tell me I was speeding and I knew I wasn't. I drove through there twice a day and I KNEW that they often had patrol looking for speeders, aside from being concerned about pedestrians, pets, and plain just wanting to respect the town. I was always very careful about watching my speed and driving going through that stretch of road. I told the officers that I was certain I was within speed limits (because I WAS) and they let me go without any problem or suggesting that the stop was a warning. Loren, I can read people's expressions well enough to note surprise. Also, because I used to have a lead foot, I've been pulled over several times. I'm not dumb and more than that, I WAS THERE.