Brooklyn Center to pay $3.25M to Daunte Wright’s family in wrongful death settlement

Brooklyn Center has agreed to pay the family of Daunte Wright $3.25 million in a wrongful death settlement, the family’s legal team announced Tuesday.

Attorneys Antonio Romanucci and Jeff Storms claimed the settlement reached with the city was the third-largest wrongful death payout in state history and the largest in a city outside of Minneapolis. The Minneapolis City Council last year approved the largest such settlement with George Floyd’s family to the tune of $27 million.

“This settlement reflects historic financial accountability, particularly when the small size and limited resources of Brooklyn Center are considered,” a news release states.

Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter shot and killed 20-year-old Wright during a traffic stop on April 11, 2021. Body camera footage of the encounter shows Potter yelling, “Taser! Taser! Taser!” before she fires her gun.

Potter was later convicted on charges of first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter. She received a two-year prison sentence in February.

The final terms of the settlement are pending an agreement on “substantial and meaningful non-monetary relief,” the Wright family’s legal counsel says.

They’re seeking the establishment of a permanent Daunte Wright memorial and more extensive training for Brooklyn Center police officers on “officer intervention, implicit bias, weapons confusion, de-escalation, and mental health crises.”

Katie and Arbuey Wright, the parents of Daunte Wright, issued the following statement in response to the settlement:

“Nothing can explain or fill the emptiness in our lives without Daunte or our continued grief at the senseless way he died. But in his name, we will move forward, and it was important to us that his loss be used for positive change in the community, not just for a financial settlement for our family. We hope Black families, people of color, and all residents feel safer now in Brooklyn Center because of the changes the city must make to resolve our claims. It is vital to us that the city fulfill its good faith commitment to fully funding and implementing the Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Resolution.”

KSTP-TV has reached out to the city of Brooklyn Center for a response and is waiting to hear back.