MSNBC analyst and former Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill omitted key details Wednesday while discussing the criminal charges against Daunte Wright, a man who was killed by police during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Wright was initially stopped by police for having expired tags but was placed under arrest over an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court earlier in April on charges of carrying a pistol without a permit and fleeing from police. Wright was killed after being shot as he tried to flee from officers during the arrest. (RELATED: Brooklyn Center Mayor Says He Doesn’t Think Police Officers ‘Need To Necessarily Have Weapons Every Time They’re Making A Traffic Stop’)
McCaskill claimed that Wright’s charge of “carrying a gun without a permit in America” is “sickening.”
“You know why he had a warrant?” McCaskill said. “He had a warrant because he didn’t get a notice for a hearing. And you know what he was charged with? Carrying a gun without a permit in America. Are you kidding me? In most states, you don’t even have to have a permit to carry a gun.”
The former senator did not mention that Wright had an additional charge in a case involving aggravated robbery using a firearm, which was unrelated to the two charges listed in his warrant. In that case, Wright, along with another male individual, allegedly robbed a woman for $820 in December 2019, according to court documents. There was no outstanding warrant for Wright involving this case because his hearing was set for June.
The hearing notice McCaskill referenced that Wright didn’t receive was actually for the robbery case. There was also no indication from court documents that Wright didn’t receive a hearing notice for the firearm and fleeing charges related to the warrant.
McCaskill went on to claim that once people are targeted by police officers they are never able to get out of the justice system.
“In this instance, this young man paid the ultimate price for that, and that is his death. And I do think that everybody in America is going, wait a minute, this wasn’t an armed robber, this wasn’t a rapist, this wasn’t a murderer, this is a young man who didn’t show up for court on a charge that in most states wouldn’t even be against the law,” McCaskill said.
Editors note: This piece has been updated to clarify that the warrant relating to the armed robbery was not an active warrant. Wright had an outstanding arrest warrant related to a misdemeanor charge.