Downtown Brooklyn City Manager Curt Boganey was fired Monday evening, hours after publicly disagreeing with Mayor Mike Elliott’s claim that the police officer fatally shot a man black in the Minneapolis suburb had to be fired immediately in response to the incident.
“Effectively immediately, our city manager has been relieved of his duties and the deputy city manager will assume his duties to move forward,” Elliott wrote on Twitter. “I will continue to work hard to ensure good leadership at all levels of government in our city.”
Daunte Wright, 20, was shot dead during a traffic stop. Body camera footage showed three officers gathered near a parked car that police said they removed for an expired record. Police attempted to arrest the man, later identified as Wright, on a pending warrant. A fight ensued, followed by the fatal shooting.
Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon said the officer who shot and killed Wright intended to shoot a Taser, not his service weapon. Authorities have not released the name of the officer who participated in the shooting.
Brooklyn Center City Council voted to fire Boganey, a longtime city employee, during an emergency meeting, the Star Tribune reported. At the same meeting, the council voted to give the mayor command over the city’s police department.
During a virtual workshop after the meeting, Council member Kris Lawrence-Anderson said she voted to fire Boganey for fear of possible retaliation from protesters if she did not, according to the newspaper.
“I was just doing a great job. I respect him a lot, ”said Lawrence-Anderson. “I didn’t want repercussions on a personal level.”
Both Elliott and Boganey addressed possible disciplinary action against the agent during a press conference earlier in the day. Elliott then demanded the removal of the officer.
“Let me be very clear: my position is that we cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of lives of other people in our profession,” Elliott said. “I totally agree with the release of the agent from his duties.”
Before leaving the podium, Elliott noted that Boganey, as city manager, had the authority to determine if the officer would be fired. Boganey noted that he would not take immediate action to dismiss the agent.
“All employees working in the city of Brooklyn Center are entitled to due process in terms of discipline,” Boganey said. “This employee will receive due process and that’s all I can say today.”
When pressured on whether he personally believed the officer should be fired, Boganey again called for due process.
“If I were to answer that question, I would contradict what I said a moment ago, which is that all employees are entitled to due process, and after that process, discipline will be determined,” Boganey said. “If I said anything else, it would actually contradict the idea of due process.”
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