Mother of Daunte Wright recalls her last phone call with him during arrest

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN - APRIL 13: Naisha Wright (R) embraces Katie Wright (C), the mother of Daunte Wright, as she speaks during a press conference outside the Hennepin County Government Center on April 13, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Daunte Wright, 20, was shot and killed by Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter on Sunday. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

It was another emotional day Tuesday following Sunday’s fatal police shooting in Brooklyn Center. With chants of “say his name, Daunte Wright, say his name, Daunte Wright,” family, friends and supporters of the 20-year-old Black man who was killed called for justice during a rally in Minneapolis.

The mother of Daunte Wright, Katie Wright, spoke at the rally. She recalled the phone call she had received from her son as he was pulled over at precisely 1:47 p.m. Sunday. Katie Wright says her son got pulled over because he “had air fresheners hanging in the rearview mirror,” her son told her. The officers asked her son to put the phone down and get out of the car. Wright says she could hear a scuffle ensue.

“I never imagined this was what was going to happen. I just thought maybe he was being arrested,” Wright said.

“And then when I called back, the girl [Daunte] said he had in the car, answered the phone, and it was on FaceTime, and she said …she was crying and screaming… and she said, ‘they shot him.’ And she pointed the phone toward the driver’s seat, and my son was laying there, unresponsive. That’s last time I’ve seen my son, the last time I’ve heard from son, and I’ve had no explanation, since then.”

Also at the rally was the family of George Floyd, who died last May under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

The family says the 20-year-old Wright had a “big personality” and “a smile that could light up a room.”