The Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, City Council fired City Manager Curt Boganey on Monday after he said that the police officer who shot Daunte Wright deserves due process.
Mayor Mike Elliott announced on Twitter that Boganey was removed from office after he refused to fire the police officer. A city councilor who voted to remove him said that she only did so to avoid mob violence.
Effective immediately our city manager has been relieved of his duties, and the deputy city manager will be assuming his duties moving forward. I will continue to work my hardest to ensure good leadership at all levels of our city government.
— Mayor Mike Elliott (@mayor_elliott) April 12, 2021
The city council removed Boganey at an emergency meeting in which it also gave authority over the police department to Elliott’s office, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. After the meeting, City Council Member Kris Lawrence-Anderson said that while she thought Boganey “was doing a great job… I didn’t want repercussions at a personal level.”
Boganey, who had authority in his position as City Manager to fire Officer Kim Potter, previously declined to do so. “All employees working for the city of Brooklyn Center are entitled to due process with respect to discipline,” he said at a press conference, Fox New reported. “This employee will receive due process and that’s really all that I can say today.”
When a reporter pressed him on his personal view of the case, Boganey reiterated his support for due process. “If I were to answer that question, I’d be contradicting what I said a moment ago—which is to say that all employees are entitled to due process and after that due process, discipline will be determined,” Boganey said. “If I were to say anything else, I would actually be contradicting the idea of due process.” (RELATED: ‘No More Policing’: Rep. Rashida Tlaib Claims Daunte Wright Shooting Was ‘Government Funded Murder’)
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified Potter as the officer who shot Wright during a traffic stop. Body camera footage showed Potter yelling “Taser!” when Wright began resisting arrest, before shooting him with her service weapon.