Apr 15, 2021

Benjamin Crump, Family of Daunte Wright Press Conference Transcript April 15

Benjamin Crump, Family of Daunte Wright Press Conference Transcript April 15
RevBlogTranscriptsBenjamin Crump, Family of Daunte Wright Press Conference Transcript April 15

Attorney Ben Crump and the family of Daunte Wright held a press conference on April 15, 2021. Read the transcript of the news briefing speeches here.

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Ben Crump: (00:00)
I’m attorney Ben Crump, along with attorney Jeff Storms and are the co counsels. We represent the family of Daunte Wright. Present with us today is Daunte’s mother and father, Katie and Aubrey Wright. Also present, who you will hear from is Daunte’s Nyesha Wright. Also, present is his grandmother, Angie and his brothers and sisters and Uncle Bobby, their family from all around Chicago, Houston. A big beautiful family coming to have to deal with yet another tragic killing of an unarmed black man. And so we got many requests from the media, the family’s response to Officer Potter, being charged with second degree manslaughter for the killing of Daunte Wright Yesterday, I was in New York at National Action Networks Convention, having a panel with Reverend Al Sharpton and the mothers of the movement, as they are often referred to. And while we were on the panel, Katie, and they was answering the question, “What message would you have for Katie Wright, now that she is joining a sorority that no mother wants to be a part of.” And maybe it was fate as they were answering those questions, that we got notified that county attorney Orput had filed the charges against Officer Potter and I told them.

Ben Crump: (02:47)
Michael Brown’s mother Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, many say he had his hands up and the phrase, “Hands up don’t shoot,” went viral. Eric Gardner mother, Gwen Carr. Eric got choked in Staten Island, New York. He said, “I can’t breathe,” before George Floyd said, “I can’t breathe.”

Ben Crump: (03:20)
SeQuette Clark, the mother of Stephon Clark, who was killed by the police in his grandmother’s backyard as he was running away.

Ben Crump: (03:32)
And we’re fortunate to have Stephon’s brother Stevante Clark who came from Sacramento, California to stand with the family of Daunte Wright.

Ben Crump: (03:46)
But it is because of these women fighting for justice for their children. Their dead black boys who were killed unjustly by the police in those instances. And neither one of them, not Eric Gardner, not Michael Brown, nor Stefon Clark, Attorneys Storms, got their day in court. They got no due process. They didn’t get to have the officers come before the court of law and have the witnesses and evidence presented to a jury to make a determination, whether they would have any criminal liability.

Ben Crump: (04:44)
And the blood of Stephon Clark, the blood of Eric Gardner and the blood of Michael Brown is on the hands of the American criminal justice system, because there was no accountability for the police who killed them.

Ben Crump: (05:10)
The only question that we have before us today is where Daunte Wright name, join that list of black people in America who have been unjustly killed by the police, who did not have the police held accountable. But we are hurting, that because of those individuals and raising the consciousness level that our children lives matter and that black people lives matter. Because of that, we believe that we’re starting to see a change in America. Because like I said, they didn’t get a charge and an arrest, but Daunte Wright did get a charge and an arrest of the officer that shot and killed him. So we are making progress and I want to encourage those protestors, those young people, those activists, that you’re making a difference and Minneapolis, Minnesota, right here now, is ground zero for that change.

Ben Crump: (06:41)
And I know Katie and I know Aubrey. It is so difficult to see the glass as half full in this most regrettable time, that you are preparing to go to the funeral home to see Daunte for the first time, since this tragedy. It is so very difficult to see the glass as half full, but just know here in Minneapolis, George Floyd’s killer was arrested and charged and we’re now waiting for closing arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin to make sure that George Floyd got due process of the law, got his day in court. And the fact that because there were charges, that you all will get your day in court. And that’s very important. That marginalized minorities in America get their day in court, so we can live up to our promise of Liberty and justice for all.

Ben Crump: (08:08)
Where that means Daunte Wright, that means George Floyd, that means all the others, whether it be Stephon Clark, Michael Brown, Eric Gardner, Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, Laquan McDonald, Philandro Castile, Corey Jones, Rekia Boyd, Natasha McKenna, Sandra Bland, Pamela Turner, EJ Bradford. So many of our children have been killed by the very people who are supposed to protect and serve them in very questionable, highly controversial situations.

Ben Crump: (09:14)
And so when we think about this moment, Nyesha, everyone continues to ask the family, “Were you satisfied with the charges? What do you think of the charges?” All we can do is say we’re making progress. The journey to justice is a long one. If you consider apples to apples, Attorney Storms, you had Officer Noor here in Hennepin County, he shot a white woman, Justine Diamond. Apparently it was in a dark alley. He shot and killed her. He showed great remorse, said it was an accident. Did not mean it. He was charged with third degree murder and convicted of third degree murder and sentenced to 12 and a half years.

Ben Crump: (10:34)
Now present before us, we have Officer Potter, a white police officer, kills an unarmed black man, and she’s charged with second degree manslaughter. Whereas, we understand it if convicted, she can get between four and 10 years. All this family is striving for is to get full accountability, to get equal justice, nothing more, nothing less. This family know that really, as Aubrey and Katie talked to Attorney Storms and I about what is the most time she could get, what are the highest charges after they met with the district attorney, they concluded that really there’s no justice for them because justice would mean Daunte not being killed. So the only thing they can ask for Stevante, is full accountability. As Nyesha so …

Ben Crump: (12:03)
… accountability. As Niesha so eloquently stated, “accountability to the highest level.” That’s all they can ask for. That’s all they can request. That’s all they can demand. And so they will do that because Daunte Wright’s life mattered. You think about Officer Noor and his circumstances and then you think about Officer Potter and the circumstances of her killing Daunte Wright, and the illustration is just so graphic. You didn’t have all of this, you did not have all of this in Officer Noor’s situation. It was daylight. You see a gun, a taser. A Glock 17 and a taser. So it’s very difficult for this family to accept that this is an accident when you have a veteran who’s been on the police force for 26 years. And we still believe that it was over policing. It was an excessive use of force, because we have a propensity in America to over police marginalized minorities, especially Black men. And, again, we’re trying to compare apples to apples. If you go to my Instagram page, and people have been doing it a lot, @AttorneyCrump, we have three videos of young White men not only resisting the police, but they are assaulting and battering the police, they have weapons, they reached for a gun, and yet the police still don’t shoot those young White men. In fact, in some of the videos, the police actually retreat. They run from the White men. So why is it in every instance that the police engage in the most excessive force with Black people? Think about what we just witnessed in Virginia with the Army veteran. Most of our White brothers and sisters who get pulled over by the police, they give them a ticket, and then they go on their way. But for some reason, marginalized minorities are made to submit. I don’t know what it is in the mentality of police officers that they want Black people to submit to their will. When you think about George Floyd, it was an alleged $20 bill counterfeit. They could have given him a ticket for that. It was at most a misdemeanor. They don’t even know. They didn’t even ask him, “Well, it’s alleged this is a counterfeit bill. Did you know it was a counterfeit?” They didn’t ask him that. You heard the [inaudible 00:16:05] employee saying, “I don’t even think he knew that it was a counterfeit.” They could’ve asked George Floyd, “Do you have the money to pay for it?” But no, he didn’t get the benefit of consideration, the benefit of professionalism, the benefit of the courtesy, the benefit of the deescalation that we see so often with White American citizens.

Ben Crump: (16:38)
He didn’t even get the benefit of humanity. And if you ever want to know the difference, just go back and look at the White nationalists attacking the citadel of our democracy on January 6th, 2021. So it’s not about, do they know how to deescalate? The question is, why don’t they deescalate when it’s Daunte Wright? Why don’t they deescalate when it’s George Floyd? Why don’t they deescalate when it’s so many Black people who are unarmed? And so we’re here to answer those questions. And finally, we ask that you keep the family in prayer, all his family, keep little Daunte Jr. in prayer as they get ready to go through one of the darkest chapters of their life. Literally, after they leave this press conference, they’re going to the funeral home to start to make the arrangements to give Daunte the respect in his [inaudible 00:18:13] services that he did not get from that police officer.

Ben Crump: (18:22)
You’ll hear from my co-counsel attorney, Jeff Storms, before we hear from Daunte Wright’s parents. Attorney Jeff Storms is a great attorney here in Minnesota where I have been blessed to work with also in representing the family of George Floyd. He is one of the best lawyers I’ve ever had the honor of working with. Thank you so much, Jeff.

Jeff Storms: (18:55)
I’ve had, I think what I might refer to as the unfortunate privilege to work with a family I love in the family of David Smith, who died here in Minneapolis. And Mr. Smith’s family did not receive equality. They did not get their day in court for criminal trial with respect to the officers. Now I’ve had the opportunity and, again, a privilege, but one I wish we didn’t have, to stand next to great families in the Floyd family and the Wright family, and incredible attorneys like Mr. Crump and Mr. Romanucci, And now we’ve seen two families who are getting some justice. They’re getting criminal charges, they’re getting a day in court, but we shouldn’t be patting ourselves on the back for baby steps towards equality. This isn’t the result of enlightenment when you think about the history in our city.

Jeff Storms: (20:03)
The Damon case confirmed what the Black community, what our Black brothers and sisters always knew, if a Black officer killed a White person, they’d be charged. And so the hand of the city, the hands of the county were forced. They now must give at least some level of equality when the situation is reversed. So even though we can take some small comfort in that baby step towards equality, it doesn’t bring Daunte back, it doesn’t bring George back, and it’s a little comfort to many families like the family of David Smith who did not get that opportunity. Thank you.

Ben Crump: (20:53)
Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Jeff. Very well said, Attorney Storms. This is very emotional for them. His parents, Daunte Wright’s parents, Ms. Katie Wright and Mr. Aurbey Wright, will now address you briefly.

Katie Wright: (21:24)
The last few days, everybody has asked me what we want. What do we want to see happen? And everybody keeps saying justice, but unfortunately there’s never going to be justice for us. The justice would bring our son home to us, knocking on the door with his big smile coming in the house, sitting down, eating dinner with us, going out to lunch, playing with his one year old, almost two year old son, giving him a kiss before he walks out the door. So justice isn’t even a word to me. I do want accountability, 100% accountability. Like my sister said, “the highest countability.” But even then, when that happens, if that even happens, we’re still going to bury our son. We’re still never going to be able to see our baby boy, that we’re never going to have again. So when people say justice, I just shake my head. Do you want to say something?

Ben Crump: (22:31)
Thank you, Katie. Mr. Wright is going to defer to his sister Niesha to speak on his behalf. And she has demonstrated with raw emotion, the pain and the agony that this family deal with, that many families deal with. Stefante experience it with his brother and Trayvon’s mother experienced it with the loss of Trayvon. And these families, to us, it’s a case, it’s a cause, it’s a hashtag. To them, this is their blood and it hurts. It hurts really bad. So please give the charity of your undivided attention to a young woman who is speaking for her family and for her nephew, Ms. Niesha Wright.

Niesha Wright: (23:41)
I want everybody to sit here and imagine you having to bury your child that somebody just murdered. We all know when our children are born, we’re so proud. Fathers, they want their baby boys. Us-

Neisha: (24:03)
Fathers, they want their baby boys. Us moms, we get that love from our son. They don’t get that anymore. Justice. What is justice? Do we get to see Dante smile? We don’t get to see that. Do we get to hear Dante joke again? We don’t get to hear that. The highest accountability… I know the highest is going to be being judged by God. But can we get a conviction?

Speaker 1: (24:44)
Can we?

Neisha: (24:47)
Can we get something? Manslaughter? Y’all see the difference. This is a taser. This is a taser. But no, my nephew was killed with this, a Glock. These two are hurting, our family is hurting, my blood has been spilled, and all we ask for is to please just keep getting his name out there. And please help us to go ahead and get something done. A conviction, something. And if this was [Pot’s 00:25:42] I’m not even going to call her officer, because at this Pot, Potter, whatever, if it was her child, if someone killed her child, we wouldn’t be having all this press conference. No, none of this. Because whoever that would be, would be under the jail again. Can we get that same thing? I don’t care what said, what my nephew may have done, whatever it is. Again, he was ours. He was a good boy. He was ours. We want the same conviction that anybody else of our race, or even outside of our race, what they want to call a minority, would get. Not a pat on the back. Unfortunately, my nephew didn’t get a drive to go to Burger King to get something. He didn’t even kill nobody.

Neisha: (26:49)
There’s so much I want to say, but because we in the house of the Lord, and I pray all day, and I pray every day… My brother and my sister need this woman to be convicted. If we can have life, we want life. We got to go life without him. We got to go life without him.

Ben Crump: (27:23)
Thank you, [Neisha 00:27:24]. You can see how emotional this is. That Neisha asked me when we were talking earlier if Officer Potter had children. I didn’t know the answer. But she then said, “If a police officer did Officer Potter child like they did her nephew, what would America demand?” It’s a fair question. America, what would you demand? Well, whatever you would demand for her child, then [inaudible 00:28:04] and Katie and Aubrey be able to get the same. Isn’t that what equal justice under the law means?

Ben Crump: (28:18)
And Neisha raised another profound example. You have these young white men. She was talking about Dylan Roof, in a church similar to this, shot nine black people. The police followed him across state lines. And when they apprehended him, they didn’t shoot him in the back [inaudible 00:28:48]. They didn’t kill him. They apprehended him alive, and they gave him so much consideration that they took him to Burger King to get a burger and fries. Because they, for whatever reason, treat white Americans differently than they treat black Americans. The Parkland High School killer, they followed him. They took him alive.

Ben Crump: (29:25)
The white man who just killed the people in the Asian spa in Atlanta, they took him alive. But yet when you have a black person [inaudible 00:29:39] who ain’t killed nobody, who ain’t killed nobody, they shoot first and ask questions later. And then they come up with a way… I know this is extreme, but they come up with a way. They come up with a way to justify, over and over again, the killing of black people in America. Over and over and over again, they come up with a way to justify where… We’re done accepting the justifications, America.

Ben Crump: (30:22)
As I said, everybody keeps saying, well, no matter how tragic it is and how unnecessary it is that Dante Wright was killed, they continue to say that looting is unacceptable. Well, you know what we say is unacceptable? Killing unarmed black people. We want President Biden to always add that to the narrative. We want all our leaders, the governor, everybody, to say it’s unacceptable to destroy property, when you kill our children, where we want you to add to that, that it’s unacceptable to kill unarmed black people.

Ben Crump: (31:07)
Enough is enough. We’re just outraged that during the Derek Chauvin trial, during the Derek Chauvin trial regarding the killing of George Floyd, attorney [Crump 00:31:20] 10 miles from where this pivotal case of American jurisprudence has taken place, one of the most important consequential cases in the history of America, dealing with police excessive use of force, you would think that the police would try to do everything in their power to use the best standard of care. That they would be as professional as possible, that they would use every measure of their discretion to deescalate situations. But you have this trainer, trainer of other officers here in Minnesota, she’s not training them apparently based on this, to be deescalating.

Ben Crump: (32:23)
There was no reason to use that taser. They had his identity. They knew the tag of the car. So what if this young kid got away? They knew how to get him. It was a misdemeanor. We are very suspicious of every aspect of this stop, especially considering COVID-19 pandemic, where people are having challenges trying to get their license tags renewed. It’s a lot of people in Minnesota driving around with expired tags right now because COVID-19 had everything shut down.

Ben Crump: (33:19)
But as Neisha and I discussed, [inaudible 00:33:22] they believed driving while black was the reason he was stopped. And we have to deal with that, America. And I know people say, “Oh, there they go, talking about everything is racial.” Well, unfortunately and regrettably, we don’t see white people being shot and killed like this. So what are we left to conclude?

Ben Crump: (33:56)
[inaudible 00:33:56] would you like to say anything? Thank you. Thank you for being here, you want to say anything. This is Stefan Clark’s brother who came from Sacramento, California, to stand with the family.

Speaker 2: (34:09)
I just want to say just a few words for my mother. She was saying that I’m her emotional support. [inaudible 00:34:22].

Ben Crump: (34:26)
Thank you. He couldn’t get the words out. He said remember his family went through this, as well. We’ll try to take a few of your questions.

Speaker 3: (34:37)
I just want to clarify, are you saying that you do not believe that this was an accident, that the officer intentionally and knowingly used her firearm and not the taser? You think this whole taser [crosstalk 00:34:53]

Ben Crump: (34:53)
I don’t want my words to be misconstrued. I don’t know what’s in her heart, but what I do know, she used excessive force because he didn’t even need to be tased. When you look at those videos at Attorney Crump, go look at those videos of those white young men, challenging, attacking, assaulting, and battering the police. And they did not shoot them. They didn’t use tasers on them. And so why is it that they do this to black people? And when they over police us, when they use the most force, it has deadly consequences for us and our children.

Speaker 4: (35:38)
[crosstalk 00:35:38] I have a question for Katie or for [inaudible 00:35:43] if they want to answer this question. We’re going to see her in court [inaudible 00:35:51] you got a chance to talk to her, what would you want to say to her?

Katie: (35:58)
I don’t even know what I would say to her.

Speaker 4: (36:00)
Is there anything you want to hear from her?

Ben Crump: (36:03)
Okay.

Speaker 5: (36:03)
Is there anything you want to hear from her?

Ben Crump: (36:03)
Okay.

Speaker 6: (36:05)
This is a very sensitive time for Minneapolis, the state, the country. People are coming in from around the country, from around the world [inaudible 00:36:09]. They’re coming here earlier now, because of what happened to your son. We’re very sorry.

Ben Crump: (36:09)
Right. This was the very worst time something like this could happen.

Speaker 6: (36:15)
Reflect to the timing this happened, what [crosstalk 00:36:15] pouring their hearts out, for the most part, but there are others who are coming here to [inaudible 00:36:34].

Katie Wright: (36:35)
I tell them thank you for coming and standing up and supporting my family and other families.

Ben Crump: (36:42)
And we ask everybody to obey the law.

Speaker 7: (36:45)
[crosstalk 00:36:45] Is there any way to take the second degree manslaughter and have it challenged and given to the Minnesota attorney general [crosstalk 00:36:53] more strict charges possibly?

Ben Crump: (36:56)
I’m going to have Attorney Storms answer that question.

Jeff Storms: (36:58)
So yeah, the charges can be amended at any time, and it doesn’t take the attorney general to do that. Mr. [Orpud 00:37:04] could do that as well. So everything is in the early stages, but what should be clear to everybody is that they acted swiftly because it was so obvious that what happened was an unlawful killing. And as the evidence comes out, they’ll refine what those charges ultimately are.

Speaker 7: (37:24)
So they can do that?

Jeff Storms: (37:25)
Absolutely.

Speaker 7: (37:29)
Can they get pressure from you or from the attorney general to do that?

Jeff Storms: (37:29)
They can, and I assume we’ll get pressure from many different sources.

Speaker 7: (37:36)
Do you think they’ll be increased to third degree?

Jeff Storms: (37:38)
We are in the initial stages of our investigation as well. Believe me, they get way more access to the information than we did. We have only gotten a very little bit, so we’ll be prepared to talk about what we think should happen when we’re fully educated. But we can tell you what did happen was an intentional deliberate act of force that began with an intentional pretextual stop and ended with an intentional pulling of a trigger.

Speaker 8: (38:08)
Mr. Crump, can I ask you a question? You were saying that to see progress that there’s criminal charges here, where in many cases, there have not been, but then you’re also saying the charges don’t go far enough. Could you just clarify a little bit of that?

Ben Crump: (38:26)
It’s a long journey to justice, and I want to thank the young people and the activists and the people who are protesting the injustices that they see, because it is making a difference in America. We have to remember, not so long ago, they weren’t charging any police officer for killing a Black person. So we’re making progress in America. Are we at the point where we can say it’s equality? Oh, we’re a long way from that. But we’re making progress. I think Attorney Storm said it best when he compared the analogy of Officer Noor, and where everybody always believed in our community, if a Black officer shoot a white person, oh, they going to be charged, and they’re going to be charged to the fullest that they can be charged to. And so that presented us with empirical evidence, based on what we saw in that case. The question has always remained in America, can minorities get the same equal justice under the law when white police kill us? We’ll take a few more and then we’ll-

Speaker 9: (39:38)
This is a question for the [inaudible 00:39:38]. Can you just tell me a little bit about what your interaction with family has been like over the past few days and how they [inaudible 00:39:45]?

Ben Crump: (39:48)
Yeah, with Philonise and them, and [inaudible 00:39:50], how was it with George Floyd’s brothers?

Katie Wright: (39:56)
It was very emotional. George Floyd’s girlfriend actually taught my son at Edison, and she remembered him playing basketball. And she remembered him just being that smiley, goofy kid. It was just very emotional, and it was so sad that we had to meet that way and then our families connected in that way.

Ben Crump: (40:22)
Okay, one last question.

Speaker 10: (40:23)
So we know that Daunte was a father. Is there anything else that you want people to know about Daunte, specifically, [inaudible 00:40:41]? I know we’ve seen a lot of [inaudible 00:40:41].

Ben Crump: (40:42)
Talk about who your child was, who Daunte was. Talk about who Daunte was.

Katie Wright: (40:50)
Do you want to [crosstalk 00:40:50]. Yeah, this is his sister.

Ben Crump: (40:55)
His sister will talk about her brother, Daunte. This is his little sister, Destiny. Just tell them who your brother was. Take your time.

Destiny: (41:08)
My brother, he was the most delightful person I’ve ever met. He was everything, everything, his smile, his jokes, everything about him. And she took that from us. And I’m very disappointed, very disappointed.

Ben Crump: (41:32)
Anybody else want [crosstalk 00:41:33]-

Speaker 10: (41:32)
How can people help the family during this difficult time?

Ben Crump: (41:44)
Okay. We have an uncle who wants to say something. The family has started a GoFundMe account if people want to help. And I have [Adna 00:41:55] give it to [crosstalk 00:41:56]-

Adna: (41:56)
gofundme.com/dauntewright.

Speaker 10: (42:00)
And is the funeral date been set?

Ben Crump: (42:04)
It’s going to be on Thursday at 12 noon, central standard time.

Speaker 10: (42:10)
Here at this church?

Ben Crump: (42:12)
At this church.

Speaker 10: (42:12)
Mr. Crump, could you tell us the-

Ben Crump: (42:13)
Reverend Al Sharpton will deliver the eulogy.

Speaker 10: (42:15)
Could you tell us the sister’s name, by chance?

Ben Crump: (42:15)
I’m sorry?

Speaker 10: (42:15)
His sister’s name.

Ben Crump: (42:20)
Destiny. You want to say what your full name is?

Destiny: (42:25)
My name is Destiny Wright.

Speaker 10: (42:29)
Thank you.

Ben Crump: (42:30)
[crosstalk 00:42:30].

Speaker 10: (42:30)
I’m 14 years old.

Ben Crump: (42:32)
Okay, thank you.

Calvin Wallace: (42:32)
All right [crosstalk 00:42:32]. So there’s two things with me. First one, it’s kind of to double back the question. I know y’all got a lot of questions. But on another aspect, if y’all really, really looked at the video and then y’all asked the family, “Well, what you think should happen?” But if you really look at the video, do you really think that that other big guy behind my nephew needed help when he had handcuffs hanging in his hand for at least five seconds. I think that’s what y’all should ask me. Y’all asked how we feel, how she should get done. Do y’all really think that first guy needed help? It would’ve been prevented from all that. He had handcuffs. If he really wanted to like take him, whatever it was, he could have did that.

Calvin Wallace: (43:24)
First thing, and that’s the other thing I’ll say about my nephew. He going to tell you the truth, and he knew who to respect. And we talked about that. Anytime I come out here to visit, I never seen the bad mad side. I always seen him happy. He happy to see me. We up early talking, late night talking. I didn’t see what people are going to try to make it out to be, so he knew how to conduct himself. But go back to that first thing, y’all asking a question that’s obvious. Y’all saying, “What do you think she should have?” Did you see the video? My nephew 135. He a big old guy. He had control of it. My nephew was cooperating. So with that…

Ben Crump: (44:05)
Okay. Okay.

Speaker 10: (44:05)
What’s your name?

Ben Crump: (44:07)
What’s your name?

Calvin Wallace: (44:08)
[Calvin 00:44:08].

Ben Crump: (44:08)
Okay. You want to tell them?

Calvin Wallace: (44:09)
Calvin.

Ben Crump: (44:09)
Calvin-

Calvin Wallace: (44:11)
[Wallace 00:44:11].

Ben Crump: (44:11)
Calvin Wallace. And one more uncle wants to say something. Talk about him.

Bobby McGee: (44:21)
My nephew-

Ben Crump: (44:22)
Now this is Aubrey’s older brother, and state your name.

Bobby McGee: (44:26)
Bobby [McGee 00:44:27]. My nephew, my whole family, for that matter, we are so close. We are all in different parts of the country, but no matter what the situation, we always get together. This is not the situation we like to get together for. We’re usually having get together, cookouts. They just was at my house for my birthday, and we just experienced a great time together. And for me to know that’s the last time I saw my nephew, I feel like you guys have taken away many other birthdays that we won’t get to celebrate together. Not you, but this officer. So for that, charge her. Charge her to the max sentence. Hold her accountable to whatever it is that the state thinks she should be held accountable for, but let it be the max. We can’t have him back, so why should she get back in her life? That’s all I got.

Aubrey Wright: (45:29)
I am so sorry. I have to say something.

Ben Crump: (45:29)
This is his father, Aubrey Wright. Say what’s on your mind.

Aubrey Wright: (45:30)
I have to say something. We here to talk about my son. My son was a good young man. He was a young man in the making. We were building my son up to be somebody. He was going to be somebody. He was a good kid. I’m very hurt. I don’t really talk much. It’s taken a lot for me to talk right now in front of the crowds and stuff. But my son was very much loved. We loved him a lot, and the way he was killed, he did not deserve that. So I just wanted to say that. I felt like I had to just tell you guys, what’s going on is unfair. These young Black men being killed. Can you blame my son or anyone else from being scared of the police? We teaching our kids how to act around police. I just had to say something. Thank you for listening.

Speaker 11: (46:42)
What can you tell us about your son, sir?

Speaker 12: (46:42)
It’s his son. What you mean? Everything.

Speaker 13: (46:43)
Everything.

Ben Crump: (46:45)
Thank you all.

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