Brooklyn Center City Council. Major changes in municipal chain of command ordered. Mayor Mike Elliott in blue cap and white mask to right of door.
Mayor: “New leaf” next for Daunte Wright unrest
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn.– After 1-1/2 days of bungled community and media relations, the Brooklyn Center City Council voted 3-2 to turn over command of the police department to Mayor Mike Elliot. The mayor immediately fired Curt Boganey, the city manager, to whom the Police Department had reported. As this was happening, Police Chief Tim Gannon resigned or, it’s not clear, was fired. Also, police officer Kim Potter resigned. It was Potter who set off a crisis in municipal governance when she shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright in a traffic stop over expired car tags. Wright was black, Potter white. Racial protests followed, which were exacerbated when Police Chief Gannon released video of the shooting and excused Potter as having accidentally confused her handgun for a taser. Gannon’s release of the video was against the urging of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which had been charged with investigating the shooting. The Bureau said the release was premature. Gannon said he was seeking transparency by releasing the video. He explained that the release, in his judgment, would raise public confidence that the investigation was open, fair and thorough. It didn’t work, raising questions that he was siding with Potter. Rioting followed. About the shake-up, Mayor Elliot said: “We want to send a message to the community that we’re taking the situation very seriously. Although things did not unfold the way we ultimately thought they should unfold. we’re hoping that we’re turning over a new leaf now. I’m confident in that.” Elliott also announced that he will ask Governor Tim Walz to assign the Daunte Wright case to the office of Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Earlier: Cop who shot Daunte Wright resigns, leaves town
Two faces of protest
By day there is grief and mourning at the place where Daunte Wright was shot and killed by police. People bring supportive posters and flowers and sympathy for Wright’s family and friends. Some signs are angry in protest against police excesses and brutality. Nonetheless these are peaceful assemblies with dozens of people.
By evening across town, hundreds of people gather at the Brooklyn Center police headquarters. Here cyclone fencing bars protesters from getting too close. Stationed inside the fencing are police and soldiers in riot gear and ready with tear gas and rubber bullets. As curfews approach, warnings blare out to disperse. Tension mounts. This is a place of unmitigated anger. As night ever darkens, the streets become violence. These people bring no flowers.
New chain of command
Mayor. Mike Elliot, elected in 2018. Age 37. As a child he fled civil war in Liberia. Graduate of Hamline University in international management and political science. Runs a nonprofit translation and tutoring business.
Acting city manager. Reggie Edwards, who had been deputy city manager.
Acting police chief. Tony Gruenig, who’s been on the Brooklyn Center police force 19 years.