Brooklyn Center could payout $3.25 million to Daunte Wright's family
The city of Brooklyn Center has tentatively agreed to a $3.25 million payout to the family of Daunte Wright. He’s the 20-year-old Black driver shot and killed by a white Brooklyn Center police officer during a traffic stop in April 2021. Lawyers say it’s the third largest such payout in state history.
MPR News reporter Tim Nelson has been following the Daunte Wright story since the beginning and joined host Cathy Wurzer to talk about it.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Our lead story-- there is a settlement between the family of Daunte Wright and the city of Brooklyn Center. Wright was a Black man killed by a white female police officer during a traffic stop in April of last year. The city of Brooklyn Center will pay Wright's family more than $3 million. Lawyers say it's the third largest such payout in state history. And it comes after the police officer in the case was charged and convicted of manslaughter. Our Tim Nelson has been following the Daunte Wright story since the beginning. He joins us right now. Good to have you aboard, Tim. How are you?
TIM NELSON: I'm good, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: Good. Thanks for being here. We've heard about big settlements being made by the city of Minneapolis in past police death cases. Wright family attorneys say they believe this is the largest settlement for a city outside Minneapolis. So what are the details?
TIM NELSON: Well, the top line, like you said, is more than $3 million. It's $3.25 million, actually. It's a lot of money for a small city like Brooklyn Center. I think their city budget last year for all of last year was only $24 million. Now, this settlement's being paid to the family of Daunte Wright, although the actual recipients is-- as is usual in cases like this, they aren't disclosed.
Attorneys for the family of Daunte Wright, including Antonio Romanucci in Chicago and Jeff Storms here in Minnesota-- they announced this settlement last night. I should note that we have not actually heard from the city yet. But these are the same attorneys who represented the family of George Floyd and made a similar disclosure in their lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis. So this is likely a reliable final number.
CATHY WURZER: OK. And who's paying out this settlement?
TIM NELSON: Well, again, that wasn't part of the announcement. I reached out to Brooklyn Center, Mike Elliott. I haven't heard back from him yet. But typically, cities just don't have this kind of cash on hand. They are pretty tight on the budgets. But most Minnesota cities are part of the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust. It's kind of a mutual insurance fund that helps cities address these occasional large claims, although Minneapolis doesn't do that.
And again, this is a lot of money for Brooklyn Center. They only have about a $20 million tax levy. So paying this out would be like a nearly 20% property tax hike if they had to pay it out all at once. So the insurance will probably cover most or all of it. But ultimately, it's going to be taxpayers that pay this. They pay into that insurance trust and other insurance plans. So the residents of Brooklyn Center are on the hook.
CATHY WURZER: OK. You know, I was wondering about the number. It seems a little arbitrary, $3.25 million. What do we know about the figure?
TIM NELSON: Yeah. Attorneys in this case, like in the case of George Floyd and Justine Ruszczyk-- she was the woman who was shot to death by Minneapolis police in 2017. They don't really talk very much about the settlement. But this is a negotiation. They sit down with city officials and insurers. And attorneys here did note that Brooklyn Center is a small city with limited resources. And this is what the two sides agreed to.
Now, it's a fraction of the $27 million paid to the family of Floyd for his killing by Minneapolis police in 2020 or the $20 million paid to the family of Ruszczyk. You may remember she was shot to death by a Minneapolis officer after she called 911. That was back in 2017.
But again, Minneapolis is not limited by the resources of an insurance trust. It's a much bigger city. And these settlements are very different. If you look at them per capita, the Ruszczyk settlement was about $50 per resident. The Floyd settlement was about a little over $60 per resident in Minneapolis. This Wright settlement is more than $100 per resident in Brooklyn Center. So these things can be kind of arbitrary. It depends on where they happen, when they happen, and even the circumstances of the death.
CATHY WURZER: Let's remind listeners what happened.
TIM NELSON: Well, as you said, this happened in April of 2021-- actually, April 11. You remember it was just as the Derek Chauvin case was wrapping up in Minneapolis. Three Brooklyn Center officers stopped Mr. Wright. He had expired vehicle registration. And he told his mom on the phone that officers mentioned an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror potentially obstructing his view.
Now, police, after this started, determined he had an arrest warrant on an outstanding weapons charge. And they tried to arrest him as he was standing beside his open car door. As this was happening, he got back in the car. A struggle ensued. And as he tried to drive away-- and video shows officers are trying to stop him-- one of them, Kimberly Potter, telling Wright she was going to shoot him with her taser, instead drew her firearm and shot him in the chest.
Now, he drove a short way away, crashed a short distance from the scene, and died of that gunshot wound. As you may recall, several days of civil unrest followed. And Potter and the city's police chief both resigned, followed by a slate of reforms offered by the city and their police department.
CATHY WURZER: Right. The family, Daunte Wright's family, has also called for changes in policing after what happened. So does this settlement address some of what they want?
TIM NELSON: It looks like it. All the language hasn't been laid out. Presumably, we're going to see that in a resolution before the city council. But attorneys for the family say that the city has agreed to changes in police policy regarding traffic stops for equipment violations, like expired tabs, as in the case of Mr. Wright.
Attorneys said they're also going to seek more police training for implicit bias, weapons confusion, de-escalation, dealing with mental health crises. And they also say the University of St. Thomas is going to provide some cultural and implicit bias training to the police department.
Now, this deal is also expected to include a permanent memorial to Daunte Wright at the location of a temporary memorial erected where he was killed. There's been some conflict between the city and the family over that. Supposedly, this is going to settle that.
CATHY WURZER: I'm wondering about the Wright family and their reaction to the agreement.
TIM NELSON: They haven't said a lot. They included a statement with the announcement of the settlement by their attorneys yesterday. They said this is never going to bring Daunte back. But they also said they wanted their loss to have meaning for the entire community.
CATHY WURZER: And we should say, we tried to call Daunte's mom, and she declined our offer to be interviewed. So do you think this is the end of this case?
TIM NELSON: At least for the time being, probably if the settlement is formally approved. But also remember, former officer Potter was convicted of manslaughter, as you said, in December. She was sentenced to two years in prison.
Her attorneys had argued that she had mistaken her pistol for a taser and tried to stop Wright from getting back in his car and driving away, that it was an innocent mistake. She has been sentenced to two years in prison. She's expected to serve about 16 months, which means she's likely going to be out on supervised release in less than a year from now.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Tim Nelson, thank you so much.
TIM NELSON: You're welcome.
TIM NELSON: I'm good, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: Good. Thanks for being here. We've heard about big settlements being made by the city of Minneapolis in past police death cases. Wright family attorneys say they believe this is the largest settlement for a city outside Minneapolis. So what are the details?
TIM NELSON: Well, the top line, like you said, is more than $3 million. It's $3.25 million, actually. It's a lot of money for a small city like Brooklyn Center. I think their city budget last year for all of last year was only $24 million. Now, this settlement's being paid to the family of Daunte Wright, although the actual recipients is-- as is usual in cases like this, they aren't disclosed.
Attorneys for the family of Daunte Wright, including Antonio Romanucci in Chicago and Jeff Storms here in Minnesota-- they announced this settlement last night. I should note that we have not actually heard from the city yet. But these are the same attorneys who represented the family of George Floyd and made a similar disclosure in their lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis. So this is likely a reliable final number.
CATHY WURZER: OK. And who's paying out this settlement?
TIM NELSON: Well, again, that wasn't part of the announcement. I reached out to Brooklyn Center, Mike Elliott. I haven't heard back from him yet. But typically, cities just don't have this kind of cash on hand. They are pretty tight on the budgets. But most Minnesota cities are part of the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust. It's kind of a mutual insurance fund that helps cities address these occasional large claims, although Minneapolis doesn't do that.
And again, this is a lot of money for Brooklyn Center. They only have about a $20 million tax levy. So paying this out would be like a nearly 20% property tax hike if they had to pay it out all at once. So the insurance will probably cover most or all of it. But ultimately, it's going to be taxpayers that pay this. They pay into that insurance trust and other insurance plans. So the residents of Brooklyn Center are on the hook.
CATHY WURZER: OK. You know, I was wondering about the number. It seems a little arbitrary, $3.25 million. What do we know about the figure?
TIM NELSON: Yeah. Attorneys in this case, like in the case of George Floyd and Justine Ruszczyk-- she was the woman who was shot to death by Minneapolis police in 2017. They don't really talk very much about the settlement. But this is a negotiation. They sit down with city officials and insurers. And attorneys here did note that Brooklyn Center is a small city with limited resources. And this is what the two sides agreed to.
Now, it's a fraction of the $27 million paid to the family of Floyd for his killing by Minneapolis police in 2020 or the $20 million paid to the family of Ruszczyk. You may remember she was shot to death by a Minneapolis officer after she called 911. That was back in 2017.
But again, Minneapolis is not limited by the resources of an insurance trust. It's a much bigger city. And these settlements are very different. If you look at them per capita, the Ruszczyk settlement was about $50 per resident. The Floyd settlement was about a little over $60 per resident in Minneapolis. This Wright settlement is more than $100 per resident in Brooklyn Center. So these things can be kind of arbitrary. It depends on where they happen, when they happen, and even the circumstances of the death.
CATHY WURZER: Let's remind listeners what happened.
TIM NELSON: Well, as you said, this happened in April of 2021-- actually, April 11. You remember it was just as the Derek Chauvin case was wrapping up in Minneapolis. Three Brooklyn Center officers stopped Mr. Wright. He had expired vehicle registration. And he told his mom on the phone that officers mentioned an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror potentially obstructing his view.
Now, police, after this started, determined he had an arrest warrant on an outstanding weapons charge. And they tried to arrest him as he was standing beside his open car door. As this was happening, he got back in the car. A struggle ensued. And as he tried to drive away-- and video shows officers are trying to stop him-- one of them, Kimberly Potter, telling Wright she was going to shoot him with her taser, instead drew her firearm and shot him in the chest.
Now, he drove a short way away, crashed a short distance from the scene, and died of that gunshot wound. As you may recall, several days of civil unrest followed. And Potter and the city's police chief both resigned, followed by a slate of reforms offered by the city and their police department.
CATHY WURZER: Right. The family, Daunte Wright's family, has also called for changes in policing after what happened. So does this settlement address some of what they want?
TIM NELSON: It looks like it. All the language hasn't been laid out. Presumably, we're going to see that in a resolution before the city council. But attorneys for the family say that the city has agreed to changes in police policy regarding traffic stops for equipment violations, like expired tabs, as in the case of Mr. Wright.
Attorneys said they're also going to seek more police training for implicit bias, weapons confusion, de-escalation, dealing with mental health crises. And they also say the University of St. Thomas is going to provide some cultural and implicit bias training to the police department.
Now, this deal is also expected to include a permanent memorial to Daunte Wright at the location of a temporary memorial erected where he was killed. There's been some conflict between the city and the family over that. Supposedly, this is going to settle that.
CATHY WURZER: I'm wondering about the Wright family and their reaction to the agreement.
TIM NELSON: They haven't said a lot. They included a statement with the announcement of the settlement by their attorneys yesterday. They said this is never going to bring Daunte back. But they also said they wanted their loss to have meaning for the entire community.
CATHY WURZER: And we should say, we tried to call Daunte's mom, and she declined our offer to be interviewed. So do you think this is the end of this case?
TIM NELSON: At least for the time being, probably if the settlement is formally approved. But also remember, former officer Potter was convicted of manslaughter, as you said, in December. She was sentenced to two years in prison.
Her attorneys had argued that she had mistaken her pistol for a taser and tried to stop Wright from getting back in his car and driving away, that it was an innocent mistake. She has been sentenced to two years in prison. She's expected to serve about 16 months, which means she's likely going to be out on supervised release in less than a year from now.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Tim Nelson, thank you so much.
TIM NELSON: You're welcome.
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