Minnesota law may save the police officer who fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop from being charged with a crime, Civil Rights attorney David Henderson said Monday.
“I think the officer should have been fired immediately because there are points of no return with regard to making mistakes on your job, but with that being said, I don’t think you can charge this officer with a crime under Minnesota law,” said Henderson.
Wright was pulled over in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center for allegedly having an air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota.
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said at a news conference that he thought the officer who shot Wright made a mistake, based on the body camera footage, and erroneously believed she was firing a taser and not her gun.
Henderson, a former prosecutor and a CNBC Contributor, said that beyond the fatal shooting, further steps should be taken to make sure what happened on Sunday does not happen again.
“I think that if officers can’t tell the difference between firearms and tasers, we need to re-evaluate whether or not they need to be carrying tasers,” Henderson said on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith.”
The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was investigating.