OCA STATEMENT ON DAUNTE WRIGHT’S DEATH AND POLICE BRUTALITY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

15 April 2021

Contact: Eiley Fong | Senior Communications Associate
202.223.5500 | eiley.fong@ocantional.org

Washington, DC - OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates mourns the passing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright that occurred in Minnesota. This is the same community that witnessed the tragic murder of George Floyd in May of 2020.

Twenty-year old Wright was pulled over after a traffic stop for expired registration tags, and made a phone call to his mother during the encounter. The officer told him to get out of the car, which he complied. When the police attempted to detain him, Wright went back to his car and the police officer proceeded to use their handgun to subdue him, as opposed to the taser they claimed they would use. Wright died as a result of gunshot wounds to his chest. The ex-officer has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.

This is not the first time that law enforcement has responded with excessive force to a situation in which they felt could result in escalated danger of all involved parties with violence, particularly in communities of color. Even within the AAPI community, witnessing the deaths of Tommy Le and Bich Cau Thi Tran—both of whom were shot when police mistakenly believed they were holding weapons and posed threats—these cases are not new.

“The excessive and unnecessary use of force on communities of color, particularly by law enforcement in situations similar to this, can be avoided by changing practices in place and response protocols without the use of weapons, ” says Linda Ng, National President of OCA. “It is clear that implicit bias still has a tight grip on law enforcements’ actions and responses. Daunte’s untimely and unnecessary death could have been avoided if the use of force had not been the first response.”

If you, your family members, someone you know, or community members have experienced xenophobia, discrimination, or harassment, please report the incident using our hate crime/incident reporting tool at www.aapihatecrimes.org.

OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national civil rights organization dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).

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