Maxine Waters: ‘Hard to believe’ officer meant to use Taser on Daunte Wright

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Tuesday said it was “hard to believe” Brooklyn Center, Minn., Police Chief Tim Gannon’s statement that the officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright meant to fire a stun gun and not a handgun.

Gannon, who has since resigned, said at a Monday press conference that officer Kim Potter appeared to have shot Wright with her Glock 17 by mistake, and that she had been reaching for her Taser. 

Video released by police showed Potter yelling “tase him” while Wright was in the front seat of his car. The video then showed her shooting and killing him with a single shot.

Potter has also resigned, and news broke on Wednesday that she will be charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Waters highlighted the differences between a Glock 17 and a Taser X26P in a photo posted to Twitter, questioning how a trained officer could make such a mistake.

How could a trained officer make a mistake shooting an unarmed man with a gun instead of a taser? Hard to believe. pic.twitter.com/1WyYq8OSc8

— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) April 14, 2021

The photo showed an all-black Glock 17 and a bright yellow Taser. The two weapons have different weights and are meant to be worn on opposite sides of an officer’s holster so that they are not confused.