Charges against Kim Potter, the now-former Brooklyn Center officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright Sunday, could be filed tomorrow morning.
Washington County Attorney Pete Orput, who is handling the case per a metro country agreement on prosecution of officer-involved shooting, confirmed to WCCO Radio Tuesday afternoon that he has received the report from the Minnesota BCA.
"I just met with the BCA," Orput told WCCO's Susie Jones. "They dropped off a significant amount of data for me to peruse, and carefully review. Once I'm done with that sometime tonight, I hope to have a charging decision tomorrow morning, noon at the latest, I hope."
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliot is requesting that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison take over any prosecution of Potter, as he has done in the case of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer standing trial for the death of George Floyd.
"I heard that too, and I said, 'well I don't know (the mayor)," Orput said. "I'm disappointed he doesn't have faith in me, but it's his city. If the governor want's to take it away from me, I guess the governor can. I got plenty of work to do."
Oput would not comment on what charges could be filed against Potter, who tendered her resignation Tuesday along with Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon.
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Gannon told reporters Monday that Potter, a 26-year veteran of the police department, mistook her firearm for her taser when she shot Wright during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon.
Prominent Twin Cities defense attorney Joe Friedberg, who is not involved in the case, says there has been incidents of other police officers making the same fatal mistake.
"This is a real tragedy," Friedberg told WCCO's Chad Hartman Tuesday. "If in fact that is what happened here, then there should be charges of 2nd degree manslaughter, which is a culpably negligent homicide."
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