Minnesota ex-cop Kim Potter, who fatally shot Daunte Wright, charged with manslaughter

The Minnesota cop who quit after she fatally shot a Black man at a traffic stop was charged with second-degree manslaughter, authorities said Wednesday.

Kim Potter was taken into custody Wednesday morning in the killing of Daunte Wright, and hours later posted $100,000 bond and was released from the Hennepin County jail, online records showed. She was scheduled to make her initial court appearance Thursday afternoon.

Former Brooklyn Center, Minn., police officer Kim Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter. (Hennepin County Sheriff via AP/)

“Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer,” Imran Ali of the Washington County attorney’s office said in a statement.

“With that responsibility comes a great deal of discretion and accountability. We will vigorously prosecute this case and intend to prove that Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her Taser. Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright, and she must be held accountable.”

Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department and former union president, and Officer Anthony Luckey pulled over Wright on Sunday afternoon, then began to arrest him for an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge, according to the criminal complaint.

After the 20-year-old tried to get back into his car, Potter pulled out her gun and fired once, hitting him.

“S--t, I just shot him,” Potter, 48, can be heard saying in the body cam footage.

Daunte Wright was 20 when he was shot to death on Sunday.

Wright was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Hennepin County medical examiner ruled his death a homicide from a gunshot wound.

“While we appreciate that the district attorney is pursuing justice for Daunte, no conviction can give the Wright family their loved one back. This was no accident. This was an intentional, deliberate and unlawful use of force,” the Wright family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said in a statement.

“Driving while Black continues to result in a death sentence. A 26-year veteran of the force knows the difference between a Taser and a firearm. Kim Potter executed Daunte for what amounts to no more than a minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanor warrant. Daunte’s life, like George Floyd’s life, like Eric Garner’s, like Breonna Taylor’s, like David Smith’s meant something. But Kim Potter saw him as expendable.

“It’s past time for meaningful change in our country. We will keep fighting for justice for Daunte, for his family, and for all marginalized people of color. And we will not stop until there is meaningful policing and justice reform and until we reach our goal of true equality.”

Fencing and concrete barriers surround the home of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter as local police guard her home in Champlin, Minn., on Wednesday. (John Minchillo/)

Potter claimed she thought she had pulled out her Taser, not her firearm, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said Monday before he, too, resigned. Body cam footage showed Potter yelling “Taser! Taser! Taser!” repeatedly before shooting Wright.

An investigator with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirmed Potter’s gun and Taser were holstered on different sides of her body — and that the Taser could only have been pulled out with her left hand due to its placement, according to the criminal complaint.

The Daily News front page on April 13

Wright’s mother, Katie, said she got a call from her panicked son as Potter was pulling him over.

“He said they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from his rearview mirror,” she said during a press conference. “I never imagined this was what was going to happen.”

Brooklyn Center police said Wright was pulled over because of expired registration tags.

Wright’s death has sparked nightly protests in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, where Derek Chauvin is on trial in the 2020 death of George Floyd. The Minnesota National Guard and State Patrol have responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Hundreds of people have been arrested.

In Minnesota, a second-degree manslaughter conviction carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $20,000 fine.

Potter has hired defense attorney Earl Gray, who is representing former Minneapolis Police Officer Thomas Lane in Floyd’s death.

The Hennepin County attorney’s office handed the possible charges over to Washington County Attorney Pete Orput as part of an agreement that local prosecutors would transfer cases involving police use of deadly force to other jurisdictions to avoid a conflict of interest.

Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott, meanwhile, has called for state Attorney General Keith Ellison to take over the case “to ensure transparency and to continue building trust in our community.”

With News Wire Services