Protesters take to Sacramento streets in response to Daunte Wright’s killing by police
Several dozen protesters took to the streets of downtown on Tuesday night to call out racial injustice at the hands of police.
Videos posted or live-streamed to social media show that the demonstration started with a crowd of about 200 at Cesar Chavez Plaza, peacefully protesting in response to the police killing of Daunte Wright, a Black man, during a traffic stop on Sunday.
Police officials said the Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, officer shot Wright after pulling her gun instead of her Taser; both the officer and the police chief resigned on Tuesday afternoon. The officer, Kim Potter, was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter, prosecutors announced.
The shooting death of Wright happened not far from Minneapolis, where the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white officer accused of killing George Floyd nearly a year ago, is taking place. Floyd’s death in May 2020 prompted large protests in Sacramento and across the nation.
Roughly half of Tuesday’s group in Sacramento then proceeded around 9 p.m. toward the state Capitol, Downtown Commons and other downtown destinations, where videos most protesters chanting Wright’s name. Videos showed only a few instances of vandalism.
Demonstrators have moved objects into the path of officers to prevent them from following. There has been a report of vandalism to a bus stop and some people have taken poles from a construction site. Heavy police presence remains pic.twitter.com/u7aEaJN353
— Sacramento Police (@SacPolice) April 14, 2021
Demonstrators, many of them in dark clothing and some carrying umbrellas, displaced objects like traffic cones, signs, chairs and rental scooters.
Around 9:50 p.m., a handful of the protesters threw rocks at the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, breaking at least one window. The bottom floor of the building was boarded up.
Police around 10 p.m. declared an unlawful assembly, videos show. A couple of minutes later, bottles were thrown at some officers. Officers followed the marching protesters on bicycles.
The Sacramento Police Department said the crowd started to disperse shortly before 10:30 p.m. No arrests were made, the department said.
“At this time SPD is aware of three reports of vandalism that occurred during the demonstration,” the department tweeted. “No arrests have been made, however investigators are following-up on these incidents.”
