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Brooklyn Center, Minn., police release footage of Daunte Wright shooting, chief says he believes officer mistakenly grabbed gun instead of Taser

During a press conference on Monday, Brooklyn Center, Minn. released bodycam video of the police shooting of Daunte Wright. Police Chief Tim Gannon said he believes the officer who shot Wright intended to use her Taser, but mistakenly grabbed her firearm.

Video transcript

- You've got a warrant. I'll tase you. I'll tase you. Taser, taser, taser. Holy shit. I just shot him.

- Oh, wow.

- Yes.

- As you can hear, the officer, while struggling with Mr. Wright, shouts, taser, taser, several times. That is part of the officer's training prior to deploying a taser, which is a less lethal device. That is done to make her partners aware, as well as a subject, that a taser deployment will be imminent.

During this encounter, however, the officer drew their handgun instead of their taser. For informational purposes, we trained with our handguns on our dominant side and our taser on our weak side. So if you're a right handed, you carry your firearm on your right side, and you carry a taser on the left.

This is done purposefully, and it's trained. As I watch the video and listen to the officer's commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser, but instead, shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet. This appears to me from what I viewed and the officer's reaction and distress immediately after that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright.