On Tuesday morning, CNN correspondent Adrienne Broaddus gave the impression that police shooting victim was pulled over and accidentally shot simply for having air freshener hanging in his car as she informed viewers of jury selection in the upcoming trial of former Minnesota cop Kim Potter.
It was not revealed that Wright had attempted to rob a woman with a gunpoint. This led to him being charged with illegal gun possession. Fox reported fully on Wright’s criminal history last April.
Broaddus appeared on-air to provide more information after Jim Sciutto and Erica Hilla, CNN’s anchors, set up a segment informing viewers about the jury selection process. She suggested she might inform those “who are not familiar with this case” but it was too late. Broaddus recalled that this inconveniently-timed incident occurred during the highly publicized trial of Derek Chauvin.
Kim Potter attempted to pull over Daunte Wright for a traffic violation. He had an air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota. Prior — as he was — as they were attempting to take him into custody, Wright entered his vehicle, and Potter yelled on that bodycam video, “Taser, taser, taser.” And she mistakenly pulled — she says she mistakenly pulled her taser — her gun instead of her taser.
Also, it was not stated that Wright was stopped for an expired tag, which is a fairly common reason to pull him over. The warrant that Wright had for his arrest for the weapon charge was found after Wright was stopped. This led to the police trying to get Wright into custody.
The segment ended with viewers assuming that the media were trying to arrest Wright because he had air freshener in the car. Although Wright’s race was not mentioned in the segment, his was one of the many cases in which the media zero in almost exclusively on cases of white cops shooting black suspects while ignoring the many other cases that do not fit that racial template.
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Here’s the transcript:
CNN Newsroom
November 30, 2021
Eastern 10:52
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, those of you who may be unfamiliar with this case, it dates back to April. That’s when all eyes were on the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. During the middle of that trial, about 11 miles away from a suburb of Minneapolis, in Brooklyn Center, Kim Potter attempted to pull over Daunte Wright for a traffic violation. He had an air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota.
Prior — as he was — as they were attempting to take him into custody, Wright entered his vehicle, and Potter yelled on that bodycam video, “Taser, taser, taser.” And she mistakenly pulled — she says she mistakenly pulled her taser — her gun instead of her taser. Yesterday, members of Daunte Wright’s family and supporters spoke out. Listen in.
COURTNEY ROSS, FORMER TEACHER OF DAUNTE WRIGHT: Daunte Wright was a student of mine at Edison High School. He was a joy, and his smile would light up this room a thousand times.
BROADDUS: And that was Courtney Ross speaking. She’s a former educator of daunte Wright as well as the former girlfriend of George Floyd. And, Erica and Jim, it’s really crucial. A lot of folks are saying this video is going to play a critical role. And we’ve seen how video in cases have played a role before. Even in the case of Derek Chauvin, we saw the cell phone video, but once trial started, all angles from bodycam video was essential. Now, back to you.
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