Kim Potter, the 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Daunte Wright, according to Washington County Attorney Pete Orput.
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, the prosecutor said.
This booking photo released by the Hennepin County, Minn., Sheriff shows Kim Potter, a former Brooklyn Center, Minn., police officer who is charged Wednesday, April 14, 2021, with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright in a shooting that ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. (Hennepin County Sheriff via AP)
“Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer,” Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief, said in a statement announcing the charge. “(Potter’s) action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable.”
Ali said he and Orput met with Wright’s family and assured them that no resources would be spared in prosecuting the case.
Potter was arrested Wednesday morning at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul. Her attorney did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press.
Potter, who resigned Tuesday, was seen on body camera footage shouting “I’ll Tase you! I’ll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!” before drawing her weapon and firing a single shot from her handgun.
“Holy ****! I just shot him,” Potter can be heard saying on camera.
Wright died of a gunshot wound to the chest, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, who classified his death as a homicide.
Police Chief Tim Gannon, who also resigned Tuesday, said he believed that Potter mistakenly grabbed her pistol instead of her Taser.
Wright’s father told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he cannot accept that conclusion.
“I lost my son. He’s never coming back,” Aubrey Wright said. “I can’t accept that. A mistake? That doesn’t even sound right. This officer has been on the force for 26 years. I can’t accept that.”
Intent isn’t a necessary component of second-degree manslaughter in Minnesota. The charge – which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison – can be applied in circumstances where a person is suspected of causing a death by “culpable negligence” that creates an unreasonable risk or consciously takes chances to cause the death of a person.
Wright family attorney Ben Crump said the family appreciates the criminal case, but he again disputed that the shooting was accidental, arguing that an experienced officer knows the difference between a Taser and a handgun.
“Kim Potter executed Daunte for what amounts to no more than a minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanor warrant,” he said.
Potter was an instructor with the Brooklyn Center police, according to the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. She was training two other officers Sunday when they stopped Wright, the association’s leader, Bill Peters, told the Star Tribune.
Wright’s death has sparked protests within hours of his death Sunday, and continued through Tuesday night, with hundreds of demonstrators gathering Tuesday night outside Brooklyn Center’s heavily guarded police headquarters.
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said Tuesday that he hoped Potter’s resignation would “bring some calm to the community,” but that he would keep working toward “full accountability under the law.”
Brooklyn Center, a suburb just north of Minneapolis, has seen its racial demographics shift dramatically in recent years. In 2000, more than 70% of the city was white. Today, a majority of residents are Black, Asian or Hispanic.
Elliott said Tuesday that he didn’t have at hand information on the police force’s racial diversity but that “we have very few people of color in our department.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
