Former Officer Kim Potter Found Guilty In Daunte Wright’s Death

Kim Potter, an ex-cop with the Brooklyn Center Police Department. has been convicted of first and second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of motorist Daunte Wright.

Potter was field training officer Anthony Luckey, who pulled over Wright’s white Buick, and Potter stated that she likely wouldn’t have pulled the car over if it had been her call.

When he was pulled over, Wright reportedly struggled with another officer, referred to as “Sgt. Johnson” in the testimony, who attempted to handcuff Wright through the window. Potter claimed that Sgt. Johnson had a “look of fear” on his face, and in her rush to help him she claims she shot Wright with her service weapon instead of tasing him as had she intended.

Wright drove off a short distance after the shooting, before hitting another vehicle and slamming into a concrete barrier. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

In bodycam footage, Potter can be heard shouting “Taser! Taser! Taser!” before she discharges her firearm once. Potter can be later heard saying “I’m going to prison,” and she claimed during her testimony that she doesnt’ remember saying that.

Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Erin Eldridge pressed Potter during the cross-examination. Eldridge seemed to be aiming to highlight Potter’s negligence after the shooting, as well as question her claims that she thought she was saving her colleague.

Eldridge asked Potter to confirm if it’s “part of your job to assist those who are hurt or injured… and to communicate to other officers what you know about a particular scene.” Potter answered “Yes” to all these questions.

Eldridge went on to say that Potter “didn’t go on to do any of those things on April 11… You stopped doing your job completely. You didn’t communicate what happened over the radio, right?”

“No,” responded Parker.

“You didn’t make sure any officers knew what you had just done, right?”

“No.”

“You didn’t run down the street and try to save Daunte Wright’s life, did you?”

“No,” said Parker, becoming visibly emotional and buring her head in her hands.

“I’m sorry it happened,” Potter said through tears, as she became increasingly emotional during the questioning. “I didn’t want to hurt anybody!”

You can watch Eldridge’s cross-examination of Potter here.