Tag Archives: Daunte Wright

Cop who shot Black man after traffic stop arrested, to face manslaughter charge

By Nick Pfosi and Gabriella Borter

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) -Minnesota authorities arrested the white police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a scuffle that followed a routine traffic stop and said they would charge her with second-degree manslaughter on Wednesday.

Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran who resigned from the Brooklyn Center police force on Tuesday, was booked into Hennepin County jail on Wednesday for fatally shooting 20-year-old Daunte Wright three days ago, the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a statement.

Potter, 48, was being held without bail, jail records showed. The Washington County Attorney’s office was expected to file the charge against her later on Wednesday.

Washington County Attorney Pete Orput and Potter’s attorney, Earl Gray, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wright was shot on Sunday after being pulled over for what police said was an expired car registration. Officers discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest, and Officer Potter accidentally drew her pistol instead of her Taser during a struggle with Wright, who got back into his car, officials said.

In police video of the incident, Potter can be heard shouting, “Holy shit, I just shot him.”

In addition to Potter, Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon also tendered his resignation on Tuesday.

To convict Potter of second-degree manslaughter under Minnesota law, prosecutors must show that she was “culpably negligent” and took an “unreasonable risk” in her actions against Wright. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Attorney Benjamin Crump, representing Wright’s family, said in a statement on Wednesday that the charge was a step but fell short of fulfilling a greater need for police reform in the United States.

“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.

“Driving while Black continues to result in a death sentence,” Crump said.

TASER USE AN ISSUE

The shooting has renewed criticism of discretionary vehicle stops for minor traffic violations, in which police officers have legal leeway to act on racial bias, civil rights advocates say.

It has also drawn attention to potential issues with the use of Tasers by police officers, with some experts saying problems persist with training and the weapon’s design.

Potter is at least the third U.S. law enforcement officer to face charges after claiming they mistakenly killed someone with a gun when they meant to use a Taser.

The previous two are former Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer Johannes Mehserle, who fatally shot a man named Oscar Grant in 2009 in Oakland, California, and reserve deputy Robert Bates, who killed Eric Harris in Oklahoma in 2015.

Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison. Bates was sentenced to four years in prison for second-degree manslaughter.

Wright was killed in Hennepin County, just miles from the Minneapolis courthouse where the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis policeman charged with murdering George Floyd last May, is taking place.

Potter’s case was referred to nearby Washington County under a year-old, five-county agreement to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest in police use-of-deadly-force cases.

Floyd, 46, who died in handcuffs with his neck pinned to the street under Chauvin’s knee, became the face of protests against racism and police brutality that swept the United States last year.

Protesters assembled outside Brooklyn Center’s police headquarters for a third night on Tuesday, some throwing bottles and other projectiles over a fence around the building. Officers fired teargas, nonlethal rounds and flash-bang rounds, to disperse the crowd.

(Reporting by Nick Pfosi in Minneapolis, Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, Peter Szekely in New York, Joseph Ax in Princeton, New Jersey, Tim Reid and Gabriella Borter in Washington, D.C.; Writing by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller)

Police chief, officer who fatally shot Black man in Minnesota, resign

(Reuters) -The Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police chief and the officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year old Black man who struggled with police after a traffic stop, have both resigned, the city’s mayor told a briefing on Tuesday.

Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said the resignations came after the city council passed a resolution to dismiss both the chief, Tim Gannon, and the officer who shot Wright, Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran of the police force.

“I’m hoping this will bring some calm to the community,” the mayor said. “We want to send a message to the community that we are taking this situation seriously.”

Wright was shot on Sunday after being pulled over for what police said was an expired car registration. Officers then discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest, and an officer accidentally drew her pistol instead of her Taser during a struggle with Wright, Gannon said on Monday.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for a “full and transparent investigation” of the shooting.

Wright’s death ignited two consecutive nights of unrest in Brooklyn Center. Hundreds of protesters clashed with law enforcement officers outside the city’s police headquarters on Monday in defiance of a curfew ordered by Governor Tim Walz.

The region had already been on edge for weeks with the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd, taking place just a few miles away from where the shooting of Wright occurred.

Wright’s relatives have described him as a kind man who liked basketball and worked multiple jobs to support his son.

“My brother lost his life because they were trigger-happy,” his older half-sibling, Dallas Wright, said during a memorial vigil on Monday evening at the spot where he was killed.

“My heart is broken in a thousand pieces… I miss him so much, and it’s only been a day,” his mother, Katie Wright, said at the vigil. “He was my life, he was my son and I can never get that back. Because of a mistake? Because of an accident?”

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, Peter Szekely in New York and Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Dan Grebler and Jonathan Oatis)