Lawsuit claims Daunte Wright's child hasn't received any fundraiser money
A civil lawsuit filed by the mother of Daunte Wright Sr.'s child claims that none of the GoFundMe money raised in his name went to his son.
Chyna Whitaker filed the lawsuit on Monday on behalf of Daunte Wright Jr. in Hennepin County, alleging that her former attorney Ben Crump "promised" that any of the fundraising money would be split evenly between Wright Jr. and the family.
Whitaker says she has not received any money for her son thus far. The suit also states that Wright's aunt Kelly Bryant was due to receive some of the money, but has not received anything.
According to the lawsuit, a total of $1,039,260 was raised through the GoFundMe launched in the wake of Wright's killing by Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter, who pulled out and fired her gun instead of her Taser during a traffic stop on April 11, 2021.
The fund was reportedly managed by Crump's law firm, which the suit claims been handed over in its entirety to Daunte Wright's parents — Katie Bryant and Arbuey Wright.
"Not one single penny has been turned over to Plaintiff for the benefit of Daunte Jr.," the lawsuit states.
As of Tuesday, the GoFundMe is still open for donations.
The lawsuit names Crump and Wright Sr.'s parents as the defendants in the case.
Whittaker and her attorneys also say the GoFundMe used to state that a portion of the proceeds would go towards "providing support to Daunte's infant son, Daunte Wright Jr." The child's name has since been removed from the page, as has the picture of father and son.
"Promises made by Crump in the presence of others that [Whittaker] on behalf of her infant son, Daunte Jr., would receive 50% of the GoFundMe funds raised never materialized and Crump and Crump Law moved on to the next highly publicized money-making police misconduct case without so much as assistance on his part to make certain his clients, Daunte Sr.'s parents, kept the promise," the lawsuit reads.
In return, the lawsuit seeks a judgement against Wright Sr.'s parents and Crump to pay no less than half the amount of money donated through the fundraiser.
Brooklyn Center agreed to pay the family of Wright a total of $3.25 million, the largest for a city outside of Minneapolis in the state's history, over the incident, while Potter was sentenced to two years in prison.
Crump's law office provided the following statement to Bring Me The News:
“This is strictly a family dispute between the mother of Daunte Wright’s child and Daunte’s parents, who set up the GoFundMe account in question. Ben Crump Law never handled or controlled the money from this GoFundMe account, which was under the sole direction of Daunte’s parents. Ben Crump Law did not benefit from any of the funds raised, and we did not accept any fee in this case. Our hearts are always with the family, and we pray that they can find resolution.”
Bring Me The News also reached out to Whittaker's attorneys Tuesday.
