After Daunte Wright killing, Brooklyn Center promised reform. 5 years later, progress is limited
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About 50 people gathered on a rainy Saturday evening near the intersection of 63rd Avenue North and Kathrene Drive to pay their respects five years after a Brooklyn Center police officer shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop.
Some prayed and others caught up with friends. Children played nearby, weaving around the memorial that stands in Wright’s honor. Air fresheners dotted a nearby pole on the corner.
Wright, a father and Black man, was known as a jokester and energizer, according to his loved ones.
Brooklyn Center school board member John Solomon said at the memorial that remembering Wright remains essential, no matter how much time has passed.
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“Here we are at five, and even 10 years down the road. We need to always know who these young people were,” Solomon said. “Because we will never know who they would actually become, in these times.”
Brooklyn Center police stopped Wright on April 11, 2021, for expired license tags and an obstructed view. Police said an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror was probable cause.
Wright initially complied with police’s orders, but tried to drive away when he was told he was being arrested on a misdemeanor warrant.
Then-officer Kimberly Potter, a 26-year police veteran, said she mistakenly grabbed her handgun instead of a Taser and fired one shot at Wright.
Potter was found guilty of first- and second-degree manslaughter and served 16 months in prison.
The fatal shooting came at a tense time in the Twin Cities, coinciding with the trial of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin. A jury found Chauvin guilty of George Floyd’s 2020 murder just weeks after Wright’s death.
Together, the cases intensified calls for sweeping police reform. Five years later, many said they’re still waiting for change.
Soon after the shooting, the city of Brooklyn Center vowed to make sweeping, progressive changes to public safety. City leaders discussed limiting low-level traffic stops, shifting some mental health crisis response away from armed officers and giving residents more input in policing decisions.
In an emailed statement to MPR News, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Garett Flesland said the department has made changes since 2021 in areas such as decision-making and de-escalation.
“We have reinforced clear expectations for staff to act with professionalism, sound judgment, and respect for every person, especially in difficult moments,” Flesland said.
But Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, said she has not seen enough.
“Our system is still unfortunately killing people. Brooklyn Center has not done what it’s promised,” Wright said at her son’s memorial. “It scares me every day that something like this could still happen, and it still is happening.”
Amity Dimock, whose son Kobe Dimock-Heisler was killed by Brooklyn Center police in 2019, said the city’s response has fallen short.
“I have seen what I would call performative action,” Dimock said in a phone interview with MPR News. “It got passed and Brooklyn Center was like, ‘Yay, we did it. Look at how progressive we are!’ As far as the scale of how impressed I am with what they’ve done with this, it would be in the negatives.”
Former Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott, who led the city at the time of Wright’s death, said at Wright’s memorial he is disheartened more reforms have not come to fruition.
“I’m very disappointed with the pace of change,” Elliot said. “Community members designed what would have been a step forward. And instead the current city council decided to maintain the status quo.”
One of the remaining proposals still in the works from 2021 is the creation of a community-led advisory board to make recommendations on policing and public safety. The city council approved a version of that commission in May 2025.
But, nearly a year later, the city has not launched it.
Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves said in a statement emailed to MPR News a combination of city commission restructuring and staff shortages contributed to the delay. LaToya Turk, who leads the city’s Office of Community Prevention, Health and Safety, said applications to join the commission are expected to open in May.
For many, grief over Wright’s death remains intertwined with frustration at the lack of progress.
“The work’s not done yet,” Wright said. “Getting something passed is just the first step. You have to make sure it actually happens.”
