Minnesota Twins vs. Red Sox Game Postponed Following Daunte Wright Killing By Minnesota PD

Minnesota Twins vs. Red Sox Game Postponed Following Daunte Wright Killing By Minnesota PD

by | Apr 12, 2021 | THE LEAD OFF

Daunte Wright was stopped by Minnesota Police for having air fresheners in his window after his mother gave him $50 to get a carwash on Sunday. That simple stop resulted in Wright’s death. In the wake of another egregious shooting of an unarmed Black man, the Minnesota Twins organization has postponed today’s game against the Boston Red Sox. 

 

 

The decision was made by the Twins after meeting with MLB hierarchy and local and state officials who reportedly were concerned about riots that were brewing and the complications of functioning while a state-mandated curfew was in effect. 

On top of that, I’m sure that Black players such as Twins star Byron Buxton would not be up to the task of playing under such circumstances. 

Minnesota Twins officials Rocco Baldelli and Derek Falvey said in a press conference on Monday that, “the decision was made with respect for the Wright family but also rooted in safety.”

“We came to the ballpark anticipating that we would play,” said Falvey, Twins President of Baseball Operations. “Over the course of the morning into the early afternoon, we received additional information about what happened at Brooklyn Center…We were able to come together as an organization to make the decision we made… We’re rooted in trying to do the right things by the Twins and also our community in our the city.”

Wright, a 20-tear-old father, was blasted by Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran who now claims it was an “accidental discharge” from her gun. According to Police Chief Tim Gannon, the female officer apparently meant to fire a taser but couldn’t tell the difference between the two weapons. 

“I’ll Tase you! I’ll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!” The officer is heard shouting on her bodycam footage released at a news conference. She draws her weapon after the man breaks free from police outside his car and gets back behind the wheel.

After firing a single shot from her handgun, the car speeds away, and the officer is heard saying, “Holy (expletive)! I shot him.”

Seems far-fetched, but that is the information MPD is putting out to the public. 

The reaction to the killing by the Black community has been understandably angry, as the incident occurs in the middle of the Derek Chauvin Trial, one of the most high-profile police killings of a Black man in American history. 

 

 

Chauvin is currently on trial for the murder of George Floyd, whose neck Chauvin remorselessly kept his knee on for more than 8 minutes as the life left Floyd’s body. During the torturous ordeal, Floyd called for his mother and screamed those infamous and bone-chilling words, “I Can’t Breathe.”  Horrified bystanders pleaded for the cops to let Floyd live, but to no avail. 

The trauma experienced by the residents of that state is at an all-time high, as they haven’t had any time to heal from the George Floyd tragedy. 

“Nothing has fundamentally changed since the killing of George Floyd. Nothing,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations told The Washington Post Monday. “Police officers can still do whatever they’ve been doing without any measure of accountability.”

Daunte Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, told the Star-Tribune that her son had called her after being pulled over and that she heard a commotion and then someone yelling “Daunte, don’t run” before the line disconnected. Moments later, she said, her son’s girlfriend, who was in the car, called back and said he’d been shot.

 

 

Aubrey Wright, who was at a grocery store, said his wife called him around 2 p.m. with the news. “She was screaming over the phone. She was saying, ‘Daunte was shot!’” he said.

When Aubrey Wright arrived at the scene less than 10 minutes later, he said, he saw his son’s 2011 Buick LaCrosse partially destroyed and his son’s body covered with a white sheet on the sidewalk, where it remained for 8 hours, according to Duante’s distraught mother. 

Protesters stormed the city last night as angry people took to the streets, clashed with law enforcement, began jumping on police cars and ascending on the Brooklyn Center Police Department, where rocks and other objects were thrown at officers, authorities said. The National Guard was called in to “keep the peace.” 

 

Stay tuned for more updates on how MLB and other sports leagues respond to this latest unfathomable police shooting of a young, unarmed Black man. Another young child who lost a parent for absolutely no reason. 

 

 

Kudos to baseball for understanding the magnitude of the situation and making the right call. It’s all about Duante Wright.  Another bro gone too soon.