Pittsburgh neighborhood leaders reply to deadly photographs involving the Minnesota Police Officer – WPXI

PITTSBURGH – Tension between police and protesters flared for the second consecutive year in suburban Minnesota on Monday after a police officer who their superiors said mistook their pistol for a stun gun hit a 20-year-old black woman during a traffic obstruction shot .

The shooting claimed the life of Daunte Wright, who was on hold for expired tags, Gannon said. The Brooklyn Center is located on the northwestern border of Minneapolis.

[ Daunte Wright shooting: Minnesota authorities ID officer who fired fatal shot ]

It is less than 10 miles from the location where former officer Derek Chauvin is accused of killing George Floyd in 2020.

The shooting is labeled an accident, but Wright’s death has been classified as murder by the medical examiner. Leaders in the Pittsburgh area said this could happen again, and it could happen here.

“We’ll see more of this until the laws change, until something is done at the federal level,” said Kenneth Huston, president of the Pa. NAACP. “If you look at the shooting and the way the shooting was carried out, how was that justified? Were the cops in danger? No.”

During the traffic obstruction, officers learned that Wright had a pending arrest warrant. He went back to his car and then the police said one of the officers mistakenly shot him instead of using their taser.

The Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board said making such a mistake was not at all common. Officers across the country have similar training when it comes to tasers.

“Cops are trained to keep their taser on their weak side so they don’t make that mistake. We don’t know why she did this, ”said Beth Pittinger of the CPRB.

Pittinger said the officer also had years of experience mistaking a taser for a weapon. She said that such traffic stops on Channel 11 do not need confrontation, and she has heard similar complaints in our area.

“We said with our community partners, send them a ticket. Don’t invite a disaster, ”said Pittinger. “You can identify and track the owner of the vehicle through registration instead of putting the risk out there.”

Meanwhile, Husotn said many police officers are not trained in cultural sensitivities and that is only part of the problem.

Other activists across western Pennsylvania have reached out on social media to express concern over the recent shootings.