‘A minute later, I called and his girlfriend answered, who was the passenger in the car, and said that he’d been shot… and my son was laying there lifeless.'”
The shooting of the murder of Black people by cops is a horrific, immoral tragedy that simply cannot be countenanced any longer. There is never any excuse for this.

Beyond that, White people would be well advised to understand their own self-interest when it comes to overly aggressive policing. The problem in this case began long before the bad cop drew her gun, believing it was a taser. The problem began the moment she decided to arrest and restrain someone for a non-violent offense. 

His mother’s account is the only one we need to read. The protestations by the cops are disgusting and insulting. The fact is that other than being Black, rabid cops, determined to continue minor probable cause stops misbehave in almost every interaction with the public.

Let’s start with the concept of the probable cause stop. A cop sees something so minor that everyone knows it amounts to nothing. BUT – once stopped, it gives them the right to run your license, search your car and more. Why? Theoretically, a cop could stop a pedestrian and ask for ID. They don’t. Naturally, when they do, we now call it “stop and frisk” and departments get prosecuted and sued for Gestapo tactics.

Why is driving any different? How and why did we allow driving to be defined as a “privilege” when on the face of it, everyone needs to be able to drive and must be guaranteed that right. For those concerned about bad people with DLs, first – who cares? And second, if their bad enough we take the right to drive just as we take the right to liberty.

By policy, if not law, minor traffic stops must not be permitted. However, once a cop has made the indefensible choice to engage in any minor traffic stop, their actions must be limited to a citation for the matter at hand. Full stop. It is not a license for a fishing expedition by the state.

I have yet to hear that that Daunte Wright had an outstanding warrant for rape, murder or child abuse. I have not heard that he was drunk or impaired by narcotics. Failing that, no one stopped by the police during a traffic stop should be arrested. 

And if the driver flees? Again, so what? It’s not smart. Obviously it results in more charges and increases the odds of jail time when they find him. And of course they would. They knew who he was and where he lived. It could be that once when they showed up to apprehend him at home that there would have been a stand-off. And maybe, even if there was, he’s still be alive. 

I heard the officer who killed him, shortly afterward. I believe she was so “in the moment” of dominating this young man that she truly made a mistake and drew the wrong weapon, which feels and looks different, from the wrong side of her body, stared down the barrel of the gun and fired without awareness. I really do believe that.

However, that doesn’t let her or the department off the hook. This happened because she convinced herself that non-threatening situation was dangerous. This happened because she instantly chose to demonize the “perp” and allowed her bad training and adrenaline to take over. 

Police firearms training emphasized shooting rather than holding your fire. In the familiar exercise involving random combinations of bad guys and innocents, there is no real penalty for a bad shoot. They are penalized in the exercise, by their peers and by themselves for missing the bad guy. If you shoot an unarmed civilian, that’s a shame. If you get killed by a bad guy, that’s…well, game over.

It’s a ridiculous notion, since the vast majority of cops will NEVER stare into the barrel of a gun. It is simply not a dangerous job. Cops retire early and unhealthy because they spend their entire shift sitting a car looking to issue tickets. They are unhealthy because they don’t DO anything. 

Fire almost all the cops. Hire community service workers.