Group Marches Across Manhattan Bridge To Protest Shooting Death Of Daunte Wright In Minnesota
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New Yorkers are protesting the death Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb.
A group gathered in Brooklyn and marched to Manhattan in the rain Monday night. Protests remained peaceful and the NYPD reported no arrests, CBS2's Ali Bauman reported.
"Daunte Wright and I are the same age. So this hit a little closer to my heart," said Jett Williams from Flatbush.
Crowds temporarily shut down the Manhattan Bridge and tried to cross the George Washington Bridge.
"It's just, like, numbing. It's just a numb pain," Williams said.
Steff Reed, from Crown Heights, said protesting another Black American killed by police felt like "Groundhog Day."
"It's just another symptom of a system that's broken," said Reed. "Until we address that, we're gonna be forever living this Groundhog Day."
The police chief of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota said he believes the officer meant to deploy her Taser instead of her gun.
"Whether it was a Taser or the kid had 'Skittles,' it's all like these excuses for why it happened," Reed said.
"You're a police officer, you should know how to operate in these type of situations," Williams said.
"When you stress, your peripheral vision is impaired... up to 70%. So, I can see how she didn't even know that she was holding a gun and not a Taser," said Dr. Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science, specializing in police training, at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
"Policing, in the profession, is about compliance. You can achieve compliance either through communication skills or through use of force," Haberfeld continued.
On average, she said, police have up to 120 hours of training in use of force, but less than 10 hours of training in communication skills.
"This is why they're so quick to resort to use of force," said Haberfeld. "They're not trained to achieve compliance in any other way."
The police chief in Minnesota said the officers are trained to keep their handgun on their dominant side and Taser on their nondominant side.
