Mom of Daunte Wright’s child speaks out: ‘I’m just really hurt for my son’

"I feel like I'm by myself, but then there's so many people that's supporting me and sending me stuff, and it really means a lot to me. It's what's keeping me together," Chyna Whitaker says

Matthew Allen

Apr 17, 2021

Chyna Whitaker, the mother of Daunte Wright‘s son, spoke publicly for the first time Friday since the 20-year-old Black man was killed by police near Minneapolis last week.

At a press conference, Whitaker, 20, explained how Wright’s death has impacted her and the toddler, Daunte Wright Jr, they shared, saying that she is in shock and has yet to fully process reality.

“I never thought, like, in a million years that this would happen. Everything’s still all really just hitting me now because I still haven’t fully, like, understood everything going on right now,” she said.

“I’m just really hurt for my son because, like, he doesn’t have his father now and it’s like it’s kind of stressful on me because like I really don’t want to do this by myself,” she added.

In the aftermath of Wright’s death, Whitaker stated that she’s been receiving a lot of messages of support and donations from family and citizens.

“I feel like I’m by myself, but then there’s so many people that’s supporting me and sending me stuff, and it really means a lot to me. It’s what’s keeping me together,” she said. “I just wanted to say thank you for all those people that are donating and sending me messages and all the love. I mean, it’s really amazing. It’s really a blessing. I just want my son to be taken care of …. I just hope that everything works out in the end.”

Wright Jr was also present at the press conference in the arms of his maternal grandmother, Erica Whitaker. Thomas Bowers, Whitaker’s lawyer, was also in attendance.

Daunte Wright was killed on Sunday, April 11 during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. City police stopped him for expired registration tags on his car and noted that an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror, a violation. After discovering that there was a warrant out for his arrest, officers asked him to step out the SUV and attempted to take him into custody.

As he was being handcuffed, Wright broke away and attempted to get back into his car. That’s when an officer, Kim Potter, who has now resigned from her senior post, cried out that she was going to shoot him with her Taser. The 26-year veteran, however, was holding a gun and shot Wright, who then drove away and crashed the vehicle soon after. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

The incident was captured on police body cam and has since been released to the public, sparking days of protest in the suburban city.

After being put on administrative leave, Potter eventually resigned, as did police chief Tim Gannon. She has been formally charged with second-degree manslaughter.