Kimberly Potter arrested, will be charged with manslaughter in Daunte Wright shooting
By Scott Bauer and Mike Householder
Associated Press
April 14, 2012
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. -- A Minnesota prosecutor said Wednesday that he will charge a white former suburban Minneapolis police officer 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.
Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter will be charged Wednesday, three days after Wright was killed during a traffic stop, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
An attorney for Potter did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press.
The former police chief has said that Potter, a 26-year veteran and training officer, had 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 it shows how the justice system is tilted against Blacks, noting Wright was stopped for expired car registration and ended up dead.
Potter, 48, resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department on Tuesday as did Police Chief Tim Gannon.
Gannon
had released Potter's body camera video the day after Sunday's
shooting. It showed her approaching Wright as he stood outside of his
car as another officer was arresting him for an outstanding warrant. The
warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled
from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter
with Minneapolis police in June. Police said he was pulled over for
having expired registration tags.
As Wright struggles with
police, Potter is hearing shouting "I'll Tase you! I'll Tase you! Taser!
Taser! Taser!" before firing a single shot from her handgun.
The
charging decision was announced as the trial of former Minneapolis
police Officer Derek Chauvin progresses in the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his
knee against Floyd's neck.
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott had said he hoped Potter's
resignation would "bring some calm to the community," but that he would
keep working toward "full accountability under the law."
"We have
to make sure that justice is served, justice is done. Daunte Wright
deserves that. His family deserves that," Elliott said.
Police
and protesters faced off again after nightfall Tuesday, with hundreds of
demonstrators gathering again at Brooklyn Center's heavily guarded
police headquarters, now ringed by concrete barriers and a tall metal
fence, and where police in riot gear and National Guard soldiers stood
watch.
About 90
minutes before a 10 p.m. curfew, state police announced over a
loudspeaker that the gathering had been declared unlawful and ordered
the crowds to disperse. That quickly set off confrontations, with
protesters launching fireworks toward the station and throwing objects
at police, who launched flashbangs and gas grenades, and then marched in
a line to force back the crowd.
"You are hereby ordered to
disperse," authorities announced, warning that anyone not leaving would
be arrested. The state police said the dispersal order came before the
curfew because protesters were trying to take down the fencing and
throwing rocks at police. The number of protesters dropped rapidly over
the next hour, until only a few remained. Police also ordered all media
to leave the scene.
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 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."
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.
In her one-paragraph letter of resignation, Potter
said, "I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving
this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the
best interest of the community, the department, and my fellow officers
if I resign immediately."
EDITOR'S NOTE: What a dirty rotten shame! Kimberly is facing prison time in order to placate the BLM mobs. No justice here.
Cops need to be aware that no one has their backs if they make a deadly mistake, an exemplary record notwithstanding.
2 comments:
BGB, she's charged with man slaughter, same as if a regular joe made a mistake and shot someone.
I hope the jury finds her not guilty, just as I would hope a jury would find a regular joe mot guilty.
It was a colossal screw up. I attended Taser training and it's no party. When adrenaline is running high tunnel vision along with reduced hearing take over and mistakes happen. This mistake cost a human life. Had the suspect followed verbal commands by a police officer instead of resisting, this mistake would not have happened.
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