'We Don't Have All the Facts': Brooklyn Center City Manager Fired For Defending Due Process Speaks Out

Brittany M. Hughes | April 15, 2021
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On Monday, the Minneapolis-adjacent city of Brooklyn Center fired its city manager of 15 years for saying the police officer accused of killing Daunte Wright deserves due process.

Now, Curt Boganey is defending himself, saying he still believes the situation “fundamentally requires fairness.”

“What I was simply saying is that everyone is entitled to an examination of the facts before making a determination,” Boganey told the National Review, saying that process can be done in “a relatively short order.”

“I wasn’t even arguing that the information that we have is insufficient,” he added. “I was just simply saying that every officer is entitled to due process.”

Wright, a 20-year-old black man, was shot and killed during a traffic stop after a female police officer appeared to reach for her Taser and grabbed her gun instead, shooting Wright while he attempted to get back in his car. Wright sped off after being hit, only to crash his car a few moments later.

But during a press conference following the incident, Boganey refused to render immediate judgment, telling a group of angry protesters that the officer deserves her day in court and affirming that “All employees working for the city of Brooklyn City are entitled to due process.”

Boganey, who’d worked for the city for 15 years, was fired shortly afterward.

“Folks that were in the room, they were asking me to make a judgment at the moment,” Boganey told National Review. “In my mind, that would not have been appropriate, because even with the facts that we have, we don’t have all the facts.”

“We have to take enough time to consider the facts before making a decision,” he added. “We want to take enough time to gather as much relevant information as we can before making a decision.”

Leftists have come out of the woodwork to immediately condemn officers like Chauvin and Kim Potter, the officer who shot Wright - even to the point of skipping due process altogether. At the start of Chauvin's trial, left-wing comedian Chelsea Handler tweeted, "Perhaps we skip trials when there is audio and video footage of the murder."

And it looks like any consideration of basic facts and justice applies to city managers who don't immediately tout the left's line and hand accused officers over to the lynch mob without trial. One councilwoman who voted to oust Boganey has since admitted she supported booting him because she feared retribution from protesters who might destroy property – including her own – if he was allowed to stay on as city manager.

“He was doing a great job. I respect him dearly,” Council Member Kris Lawrence-Anderson said, the Star Tribune reported. “I didn’t want repercussions at a personal level.”

Wright’s death – which comes in the middle of a high-profile murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, accused of killing George Floyd – kicked off a wave of nightly protests-turned-riots in Brooklyn Center, where some residents have been forced to arm themselves to protect businesses from looting and arson. 

 

 

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