Activists rally in Brooklyn Center after city rejects proposal to limit traffic stops
Updated: 8:47 p.m.
People gathered outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department Tuesday evening to protest the Brooklyn Center City Council’s refusal to limit police traffic stops.
The proposal, which failed in a 3-2 vote Monday, would have prohibited police from stopping vehicles solely for minor violations such as expired license plates or noisy mufflers.
A committee drafted the reforms after former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter killed Daunte Wright during a 2021 traffic stop for expired tabs.
On body camera video of the stop, Potter, who’s white, is heard shouting “taser” but fires her gun instead at Wright, who was Black and unarmed, as he tries to evade arrest for an outstanding warrant.
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“My son has been dead for two years and nine months, and you guys say ‘no’ to a policy that’s going to protect people," Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, told the council.
She said she was told during committee hearings that everyone agreed to the proposal, so she was surprised the council rejected it. She and others gave up their time to work on the proposal, only to see it fail.
“To have so many community members to put their life on the line like that to make changes, and to sit in spaces with people that we thought were actually going to do the right thing, it’s like a punch in the gut,” she said.
John Solomon was part of the community safety committee that crafted the plan and said its rejection is disappointing.
“They were pretty straight about saying regardless of the data, regardless of the opportunity to build trust in the community, they said no,” Solomon told MPR News Tuesday.
The councilmembers, mayor and police chief have not returned MPR News requests for comment.
The committee first presented its recommendations in September 2022. Then in October of last year, the council tabled the new rules after police chief Kellace McDaniel said he had reservations.
McDaniel is set to retire Jan. 31.
“We’re not against police. We’ve never been against the police,” Wright said during Tuesday’s rally. “We’re against racially profiling. We’re against the traffic stops that are being performed that end up killing people. We’re against the police that are not out here policing but are out here patrolling, slave patrolling. Whatever you want to call it, I don’t care how you call it, but that’s what it is.”
Had it approved the changes, Brooklyn Center would have joined several jurisdictions nationwide that limited stops for low-level traffic violations following calls for police reform after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
That includes Ramsey County, which said it would stop prosecuting such cases in 2021. St. Paul, Roseville, Maplewood and St. Anthony Village police departments responded by changing their policies.
A year later, researchers found stops for potentially life-threatening violations such as speeding and driving under the influence went up. Last year, the researchers reported people of color were stopped less often as a result of the change, though disparities remained.
The Wright family received a $3.25 million settlement from Brooklyn Center.
The former officer, Potter, was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison. She was released last year after serving 16 months.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation with John Solomon.
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Audio transcript
A committee was formed after Wright's death. And members spent the last three years working on proposed changes. One of the committee members is John Solomon, who's with us on the line. Mr. Solomon, welcome back.
JOHN SOLOMON: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: I understand just a few minutes ago you had a meeting with another group that formed after Daunte Wright's killing. This was a community crisis response group, right? What was the mood like at that meeting?
JOHN SOLOMON: Well, it was a lot of anxiety. Basically, the city members there-- we got a lot of entities throughout the city involved, as well as other organizations that are on the street just kind of working to keep peace. And basically, they're preparing for the protest. And it's supposed to meet in front of the police station. And they're just kind of being cautious about making sure that it doesn't ignite into something more here than just a regular opportunity to speak out on their frustration.
CATHY WURZER: Now, you and the other committee members met for, as I say, several years on this. Why do you think the majority of the city council last night decided not to approve these changes that you put forth?
JOHN SOLOMON: Well, it's a lot of dynamics to it, but most people are really invested in feeling like it's a lot of racial animus about this whole thing here. And then you have that division that people that were pro Kim Potter, and they look at a kid like Daunte Wright-- he doesn't look like the majority of them, and so it's like, well, what was he out there doing wrong for anyway? So it's been that battle back and forth.
And then because Katie Wright went and sued the city, and she's been real outspoken about things, she's just got a lot of people that's been against her. And what it culminated into is the election a year ago brought in two new city council members that really sided with that whole group there. And they've seen the browning of the community and the browning of the leadership in this city, and it's like, this is a step to kind of saying, we want our city back here.
CATHY WURZER: Let's talk about the police chief. Now, you and I talked back in October, and there were some council members-- and I remember the chief being uncomfortable passing these reforms without law enforcement's support. So what about the police chief in all of this? And isn't that police chief leaving soon?
JOHN SOLOMON: He's retired. He's retiring. He's just sitting right now until we hire another one. But, see, this is the interesting thing is that we met back in late November with the top three under the chief-- the top three commanders under the chief.
And we sat down, and we hashed this whole thing through on the policy. And each one of them was in favor of the policy passing here. And so that made it really interesting that we thought we had this thing hashed out.
We've actually knocked it down from 15 particular actions that we wanted on there, the cracked windshields and the air fresheners hanging from the things, to seven different things in a compromise. And still, they were pretty straight about saying, regardless of the data, regardless of the opportunity to build the trust in the community, they said "no."
CATHY WURZER: Katie Wright, as I mentioned, was pretty emotional last night after the city council meeting. And she was talking about how this decision could affect the city's settlement with her family. What do you think of that?
JOHN SOLOMON: Well, I was wondering the ones that told her that she needed to step forward with that, and that way we can get away from, basically, looking at as protests and just kind of come in a way that they didn't stand up to exactly what-- and this is from what I understand. I haven't seen the whole thing-- but they were supposed to create this policy, as well as education in the community, on how we can come together and prevent other incidents like this. And this is a step to saying that they don't really care.
CATHY WURZER: What do you think happens next? As I mentioned, you and other members of the committee have met for a number of years now. What's the future?
JOHN SOLOMON: Two years.
CATHY WURZER: Two years. That's a long time. What's the future at this point?
JOHN SOLOMON: Well, I'm actually not sure. It's done and done once they voted no here. Like I say, right now, we have to do what we can in the community to kind of come together with people to kind of do our own education and whatever we can on the ground to work with the police here. But I've always told them that if they don't take these steps forward, we're only one incident away from it becoming another situation like what happened after Daunte Wright or George Floyd.
CATHY WURZER: So April, this coming April, will be three years since Daunte Wright was killed. And I'm wondering, and this speaks to maybe what you just mentioned here about the energy in the police reform movement in Brooklyn Center-- what might the path be forward with maybe a new police chief?
JOHN SOLOMON: Well, I don't know. This one right here, I thought he did a good job in trying to come and create some type of connectedness and community policing there. But I just think that he worn out his welcome in trying to make that effort.
I think you got too many veteran ones that are just not going to change. And he did bring in some new officers and everything. And hopefully this new chief might be someone who has a similar perspective on doing that. I just can't say right now.
CATHY WURZER: How are you feeling personally, John? You spent a lot of time on this. How are you emotionally today?
JOHN SOLOMON: It's been tough. But you know what? I think I'm handling it better than a lot of others, because I kind of expected this. I'm able to read the tone of people a lot better than some of the other ones. And I didn't expect it to pass, because I've been in communication with the city council members trying to work between the lines to keep them informed as well as us to talk about why this is important.
And I just didn't get a tone from them that they cared very much about what we brought to the table. They wanted this. They had certain people in the community that there was a lot of, why do they get to have these things or they can break the law and these things like this? And who do they think they are? And so with that type of mentality, we just got a lot of work to do in this community on these racial divisions.
CATHY WURZER: All right. John Solomon, thank you so much for your time here this afternoon.
JOHN SOLOMON: Yep. That's OK. I appreciate yours.
CATHY WURZER: John Solomon is a member of Brooklyn Center's community safety and violence committee. And we also want you to know that we reached out to the police chief and the mayor of Brooklyn Center, didn't hear back before going on the air.
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