The Washington County, MN attorney’s office has filed charges of 2nd degree manslaughter against former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter in Sunday’s shooting death of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says Potter was arrested and taken into custody on Wednesday. She was booked into the Hennepin County Jail.
“Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer,” said Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief and director of the Major Crime Unit. “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, resigned on Tuesday.
The second-degree manslaughter charge carries a maximum prison sentence of ten years and a fine of $20,000.
Potter’s body camera video was released less than 24 hours after Wright’s death.
It showed Potter, 48, waving her service revolved while shouting “taser, taser” when it appears Wright was trying to get away from officers during the stop.
It can be heard in the video officers telling Wright he was being arrested on a gross misdemeanor warrant.
The charge was discovered by officers after they pulled Wright over for expired plates, according to police officials.
Potter was heard expressing shock after realizing she had shot Wright, who managed to drive away and crashed his car into another vehicle before he died.
The case was referred to Washington County attorney Pete Orput under a practice that moves prosecution away from local jurisdiction to avoid appearance of a conflict of interest.
Brooklyn Center’s mayor fired the city manager and the police chief resigned in the wake of the shooting.
The shooting has touched off three days of protest, some of them turning violent at the Brooklyn Center police station.
There has also been some looting in Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis.
The region is already stressed from the ongoing trial of former MPD officer Derek Chauvin, charged in last year’s death of George Floyd.
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