ACLU Minn. Chapter Wants to Stop All Armed Police Traffic Stops - Stopping 'Pretextual Stops'

Minnesota Policing Bill Proposed in Response to Daunte Wright Shooting
Lawmakers take closer look at law banning certain traffic stops

Bill would end enforcement of reasons to stop drivers in wake of Daunte Wright's killing.

Minnesota law prohibits motorists from hanging objects from their car's rearview mirror, though an infraction seldom leads to a ticket.

But in the wake of the police killing of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was shot by a white officer during a traffic stop April 11, the law is getting fresh attention. Two state legislators have introduced a measure that would repeal the law, which advocates say gives police an excuse to target Black drivers.

Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter shot Wright after mistaking her gun for her Taser, according to police. Police later said they stopped Wright because he was driving with expired license tabs, but Wright's mother, Katie Wright, has said she was on the phone with her son during the stop, and he believed he was being stopped for having an air freshener dangling from his car's rearview mirror.

Soon, police may not be able to make a stop for either reason. The Minnesota House on Thursday passed a public safety package that incorporates many police accountability measures sought by activists, including limits on when police can pull over vehicles. Having expired tabs or items such as an air freshener hanging from a rearview mirror would be among the violations no longer eligible for a stop.

Rep. Erik Mortensen, R-Shakopee, had also introduced a separate bill — now in committee — intended to take unnecessary laws off the books and reduce interactions with police officers when there is no immediate threat to public safety.

ACLU Minn. chapter wants to stop all armed police from making traffic stops

"We have a deep concern that police here appear to have used dangling air fresheners as an excuse for making a pretextual stop, something police do all too often to target Black people," the ACLU said in a statement. "Having armed police making traffic stops is a dangerous, racist and unnecessary practice that doesn't aid public safety."

Traffic stops are the most common interaction Americans have with police. On a typical day, police pull over more than 50,000 drivers — more than 20 million people a year, according to a September report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. Black drivers were about 20% more likely to be stopped than white drivers relative to their share of the population,

Proponents say these minor stops are an effective tool that alert police to more serious crimes. But the threat of such stops makes Minnesota an unsafe place for Black people to drive, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said during a recent interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"That is a kind of terror that no citizen of the United States should ever have to face," Elliott said. "It's constant. It's ever-present. It's something that must change." startribune.com