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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The name “Daunte Wright” is on full display across the Minneapolis area this week, as the community hunkers down once again for the beginning of the trial of ex-police officer Kim Potter.
A picture of Wright, who was 20 years old when Potter shot him during a traffic stop in an alleged stun gun-firearm mix-up, has been placed under the sculpture of a fist in George Floyd Square. Wright’s name is also on a marquee that calls for passersby to demand justice over his killing.
Wright, a Black man, was killed in April in the suburb of Brooklyn Center, as tensions were already high in the Twin Cities region during the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for Floyd’s death.
As Potter’s trial is set to begin just weeks before Christmas, newly erected signs outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department encourage visitors to the “protest area” to be courteous, as the apartment building across the street is home to families. The sign asks protesters to leave by 9 p.m.
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George Floyd Square in Minneapolis pictured on Dec. 6, 2021, two days before opening arguments are set to begin in the trial for former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter, who is facing manslaughter charges in the April death of Daunte Wright. (Fox News Digital/Danielle Wallace)
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George Floyd Square in Minneapolis pictured on Dec. 6, 2021, two days before opening arguments are set to begin in the trial for former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter, who is facing manslaughter charges in the April death of Daunte Wright. (Fox News Digital/Danielle Wallace)
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George Floyd Square in Minneapolis pictured on Dec. 6, 2021, two days before opening arguments are set to begin in the trial for former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter, who is facing manslaughter charges in the April death of Daunte Wright. (Fox News Digital/Danielle Wallace)
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George Floyd Square in Minneapolis pictured on Dec. 6, 2021, two days before opening arguments are set to begin in the trial for former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter, who is facing manslaughter charges in the April death of Daunte Wright. (Fox News Digital/Danielle Wallace)
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George Floyd Square in Minneapolis pictured on Dec. 6, 2021, two days before opening arguments are set to begin in the trial for former Brooklyn Center police Office Kim Potter, who is facing manslaughter charges in the April death of Daunte Wright. (Fox News Digital/ Michael Ruiz)
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George Floyd Square in Minneapolis pictured on Dec. 6, 2021, two days before opening arguments are set to begin in the trial for former Brooklyn Center police Office Kim Potter, who is facing manslaughter charges in the April death of Daunte Wright. (Fox News Digital/ Danielle Wallace)
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George Floyd Square in Minneapolis pictured on Dec. 6, 2021, two days before opening arguments are set to begin in the trial for former Brooklyn Center police Office Kim Potter, who is facing manslaughter charges in the April death of Daunte Wright. (Fox News Digital/ Danielle Wallace)
Security measures
Residents remain on edge as opening arguments are set to begin Wednesday for Potter’s trial. Tear gas seeped into the apartments across the street from the Brooklyn Center Police Department months ago, as demonstrations and law enforcement clashed outside the residential area. Now security fencing establishing a barrier from the sidewalk to the police department has Wright’s name woven into the chain links.
Fencing has also been rected around the Hennepin County Government Center Tuesday, a day before the opening arguments begin.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Minnesota National Guard and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz regarding security measures ahead of opening arguments in Potter’s trial, but had not received a response by Tuesday evening.
It was unclear if Minnesota police law enforcement agencies were partnering under Operation Safety Net once again, as they did in April in anticipation of demonstrations over Chauvin’s trial.
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A sign pictured on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021 across the street from the Brooklyn Center Police Department informs visitors to the "protest area" that families live nearby, including in an apartment building directly across the street. (Fox News Digital/ Danielle Wallace)
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The Brooklyn Center Police Department was surrounded by security fencing on Dec. 6, 2021, as the name Daunte Wright was woven into the chain links. (Fox News Digital/ Danielle Wallace)
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A sign pictured on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021 across the street from the Brooklyn Center Police Department informs visitors to the "protest area" that families live nearby, including in an apartment building directly across the street. (Fox News Digital/Danielle Wallace)
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Daunte Wright’s image was among those depicted on placards set up around a sculpture of a fist at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on Dec. 6, 2021. (Fox News Digital/Danielle Wallace)
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George Floyd Square in Minneapolis pictured on Dec. 6, 2021, two days before opening arguments are set to begin in the trial for former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter, who is facing manslaughter charges in the April death of Daunte Wright. (Fox News Digital/Danielle Wallace)
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A billboard reads "Racism Kills" above George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on Dec. 6, 2021. (Fox News Digital/Danielle Wallace)
Back then, hundreds of demonstrators showed up outside the Hennepin County Courthouse, as well as the Brooklyn Center Police Department. Protests escalated to several days of civil unrest following Wright’s death and the Brooklyn Center police chief and Potter both resigned. Brooklyn Center also fired its longtime city manager over the shooting and Mayor Mike Elliott assumed emergency control of the police department.
Leadership shake-up
This week, Brooklyn Center passed another $1.3 million plan to create new public safety programs following Wright’s shooting. And leadership at the Minneapolis Police Department was shaken up, as Chief Medaria Arradondo, who is the city’s first Black police chief, announced he will not be seeking a third term. Amelia Huffman was named interim chief, as Mayor Jacob Frey continues a nationwide search for Arradondo’s permanent replacement.
Meanwhile, at least three lawsuits have been posthumously filed against Wright’s estate on behalf of his alleged victims, who include a young woman who claims Wright choked and attempted to rob her at gunpoint; a permanently disabled man who Wright allegedly shot in the head at age 16; and a man whose football prospects were shattered when Wright’s alleged accomplice shot him in the leg during a carjacking weeks before Wright was killed.
Cortez Rice was transported from Waukesha County Jail in Wisconsin to Minnesota. He was ordered held without bond at the Hennepin County Public Safety building, seen here Dec. 7, until his next court hearing on Dec. 20.
(Fox News Digital/Danielle Wallace)
The start of Potter’s trial also comes as a Black Lives Matter activist was charged with intimidating the judge presiding over the case. Cortez Rice was ordered held without bond Tuesday, and will remain behind bars for at least the next two weeks before his next court hearing.
Rice allegedly livestreamed himself outside the door where he and other protesters believed Judge Regina Chu lived as a way to intimidate her into reversing her order and allowing cameras inside the courtroom. Though she did end up allowing livestreams of the proceedings, the judge cited the coronavirus pandemic in changing course and stressed the protest had not impacted her decision.
Since Floyd’s death on Memorial Day 2020, protesters have increasingly adopted the tactic of showing up outside private homes.
It happened to Potter’s home in Champlin, Minnesota, costing the suburb thousands of dollars in security measures before the house was sold and the ex-police officer’s family moved. Demonstrations also have been seen outside the homes of the former head of the Minneapolis police union, as well as that of a use-of-force expert who testified in Chauvin’s trial.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
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