Attorneys representing Daunte Wright’s family reached a tentative agreement including a $3.25 million settlement with the city of Brooklyn Center on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Wright family’s legal team.
Wright’s family sued the city after former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter fatally shot Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, in April 2021 during a traffic stop, where Potter said she mistakenly fired her gun instead of her taser.
Potter resigned two days after the incident and was later convicted of manslaughter. She was sentenced to two years in prison on February 18, only 16 months of which will be served in prison.
The family’s settlement rests on Brooklyn Center agreeing to other “non-monetary relief” regarding the Brooklyn Center police department’s policies, according to the Wright’s legal team’s statement. The terms of agreement are expected to include additional training for the department’s officers on topics including officer intervention, implicit bias, weapons confusion, de-escalation and mental health crises.
The agreement is also expected to include a permanent memorial for Wright where a temporary one now stands.
“The comprehensive settlement in this tragic case will provide a meaningful measure of accountability to the family for their deep loss of a son, sibling and father,” co-counsel Antonio Romanucci said in the statement. “They hope and believe the measures of change to policing, policies and training will create important improvements to the community in Daunte’s name.”
A representative for the city of Brooklyn Center confirmed the agreement, including the changes to the city’s policing and the creation of a permanent memorial for Wright, according to reporting from the New York Times.