City Manager Fired After Calling for Due Process for Minnesota Officer Speaks Out

Then-Brooklyn Center city manager Curt Boganey speaks to reporters in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on April 12, 2021. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

The now-former city manager who was fired this week over his saying that the police officer who shot Daunte Wright deserved due process said he meant that people needed to examine the facts of the case.

“What I was simply saying is that everyone is entitled to an examination of the facts before making a determination. Sometimes that can be in a relatively short order,” Curt Boganey, the former manager of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, told National Review.

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

During an April 12 press conference the day after Wright was shot by officer Kim Potter, who has since resigned, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said he supported firing Potter.

Boganey then told reporters that “all employees working for the city of Brooklyn Center are entitled to due process.”

“With respect to discipline, this employee will receive due process,” he said.

When a reporter in the room urged Boganey to support Potter’s firing, he said he couldn’t delve into the matter further. After due process, he added, “discipline will be determined.”

“If I were to say anything else, I would actually be contradictory [sic] the idea of due process,” he told reporters.

“Folks that were in the room, they were asking me to make a judgement 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.”

Boganey could not be reached for further comment.

Hours later, the city’s City Council voted to remove Boganey from his post and make Elliott responsible for overseeing the police department.

At such a tough time, this will streamline things and establish a chain of command and leadership,” Elliott wrote on Twitter.

Councilman Dan Ryan is the only member who voted against the firing.

One of the votes for the termination, Councilwoman Kris Lawrence-Anderson, said she voted to remove Boganey because she feared retaliation from activists if she did not, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.

“He was doing a great job. I respect him dearly,” she said. “I didn’t want repercussions at a personal level.”

The members did not respond to requests for comment.