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Trevor Noah Condemns Shooting of Daunte Wright, Says 'Police Don't Give a S—t' About Harming Black People

Rebecca Iannucci
·2 min read

An incredulous Trevor Noah was among Monday’s late-night hosts who addressed the recent police shooting of Daunte Wright, an unarmed Black man who was killed during a traffic stop in Minnesota.

Tim Gannon, the police chief in Minneapolis suburb Brooklyn Center, told reporters on Monday that 20-year-old Wright had been pulled over for expired registration tags on his car, which led to the discovery that Wright had a warrant out for his arrest. As the cops attempted to detain Wright, the man got back into his car, and police officer Kim Potter shot him; Wright drove several blocks before crashing into another vehicle, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

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On Monday’s The Daily Show, Noah was most flabbergasted not by Wright’s death, but by Gannon’s explanation that Potter intended to use her Taser on Wright, but instead grabbed her gun.

“You have got to be f—king kidding me,” Noah began. “A man was killed at a traffic stop because the police officer mixed up their gun and their Taser? Is that even supposed to be a legitimate excuse?”

He added that even though “tragic mistakes” do happen occasionally, “maybe if the police weren’t so quick to draw any weapon, then maybe people wouldn’t die because of a mix-up from Officer Urkel over here.”

Noah was equally incensed by recently released body cam footage of an incident in Virginia, where Army lieutenant Caron Nazario — who is Black and Latino — was pepper-sprayed by police officers after getting pulled over for allegedly having no visible license plate. During the encounter, an officer told Nazario, “You’re fixing to ride the lightning, son,” and when Nazario said he was “honestly afraid to get out” of his vehicle, one of the cops responded, “Yeah, you should be.”

“If you’re surprised that a member of the military is having his rights abused, then you need to understand the police don’t give a s—t,” Noah continued. “They don’t care if you’re a member of the military, they don’t care if you’re a beloved member of the community, they don’t care if you’re recording them. S—t, they don’t even care if they’re recording themselves. And the reason they don’t care is because they know they’re going to get away with it. And until that changes, they’re just going to keep not caring.”

Watch Noah’s full segment below.

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