Demonstrations were held across New York City Wednesday in the wake of the fatal shooting of a Black motorist by police in Minnesota. 

People were gathered at Grand Army Plaza for "purpose ride" to call for justice.

It comes as a prosecutor said Wednesday that he charged a white former suburban Minneapolis police officer with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright in a shooting that has ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. 

The charge against former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter was filed Wednesday, three days after Wright was killed during a traffic stop and as the nearby murder trial progresses for the ex-officer charged with killing George Floyd last May, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said. 

The former Brooklyn Center police chief has said that Potter, a 26-year veteran and training officer, intended to use her Taser on Wright but fired her handgun instead. However, protesters and Wright’s family members say there’s no excuse for the shooting and that it shows how the justice system is tilted against Blacks, noting Wright was stopped for expired car registration and ended up dead.