On a December Friday in a Minneapolis courtroom, a former Brooklyn Center officer named Kim Potter sat before a jury and tried to explain a moment that cannot be undone: the April traffic stop in which Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, was shot dead. Her account, offered through tears, was that she believed she was reaching for a Taser rather than her handgun, and that she was sorry it happened. The state answers with the same body camera footage, arguing that her conduct was reckless or criminal, and the question of how a mistake of that kind should be weighed now rests with the ju
'Sorry It Happened': Ex-Officer Kim Potter Breaks Down While Testifying in Daunte Wright Manslaughter Trial
Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, was fatally shot during a traffic stop on April 11 in Brooklyn Center.
"We were trying to keep him from driving away. It just went chaotic."
Mark
Why does Potter's testimony matter so much here, when the video already shows what happened?
Mimi
Because the video shows the act, not what was in her mind. She told jurors she yelled "Taser Taser Taser" and nothing happened, and that is her explanation of intent.
Luke
Worth noting that's her account. The footage apparently shows she mistook her gun for a Taser, but her description of the chaos is her own testimony.
Mark
She said she wouldn't have made the stop at all. Is that significant?
Mimi
It places the decision with Anthony Lucky, the trainee she was supervising. According to Potter, he chose to stop Wright over expired tags and an air freshener.
Luke
Again, that's Potter's version of why the stop happened. The reporting doesn't tell us whether anyone disputed it on the stand.
Mark
What did the prosecution do in cross-examination?
Mimi
Erin Eldridge played parts of the body camera footage and questioned her actions. Potter cried again as it played.
Luke
Her crying is reported, but the article doesn't say how jurors reacted, and we shouldn't guess.
Mark
And what comes next?
Mimi
The defense rested, the state called no rebuttal witnesses, and closings come Monday before deliberations begin.
Luke
What's still unknown is the verdict, obviously, and the exact instructions the jury will get on the two manslaughter charges.
Der Puls
- Potter took the stand in her own manslaughter trial and wept as she described the seconds before Daunte Wright was shot during an April traffic stop.
- She told jurors she mistakenly believed she was reaching for a Taser, insisting that 'it just went chaotic' while Wright tried to drive away.
- Prosecutor Erin Eldridge played graphic body camera footage during cross-examination, pressing Potter on whether her actions were reckless or criminal.
- The defense rested without rebuttal from the prosecution, closing the evidence phase sooner than many expected.
- Closing statements are set for Monday, after which jurors will weigh first- and second-degree manslaughter charges and a verdict is still ahead.
On a December Friday in a Minneapolis courtroom, a former Brooklyn Center officer named Kim Potter sat before a jury and tried to explain a moment that cannot be undone: the April traffic stop in which Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, was shot dead. Her account, offered through tears, was that she believed she was reaching for a Taser rather than her handgun, and that she was sorry it happened. The state answers with the same body camera footage, arguing that her conduct was reckless or criminal, and the question of how a mistake of that kind should be weighed now rests with the jury after closing arguments on Monday.
On Friday, December 17, 2021, in a courtroom at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter took the stand in her own trial and cried as she described the moments before she shot Daunte Wright. Under questioning, she said she was "sorry it happened."
Potter faces first- and second-degree manslaughter charges in the April 11 death of Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist shot during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb. The body camera video shows that she apparently mistook her handgun for a Taser before firing. Potter told jurors she would not have pulled Wright over herself; her field training officer, Anthony Lucky, was driving and stopped the white Buick over expired tags and an air freshener hanging from the mirror. When officers told Wright he was being arrested on a warrant and Lucky tried to handcuff him, Wright tensed, and in Potter's telling, everything unraveled. "We were trying to keep him from driving away," she said through tears. "It just went chaotic."
On cross-examination, prosecutor Erin Eldridge played the footage again, and Potter wept as it ran. The state argues her conduct was reckless or criminal.
The defense then rested, and the prosecution called no rebuttal witnesses. Closing statements come Monday, followed by jury instructions and deliberations.
On Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, in a courtroom at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter took the stand in her own manslaughter trial and cried as she described the moments before she shot Daunte Wright. Under questioning by the state, she cried out that she was "sorry it happened."
Potter faces first-degree and second-degree manslaughter charges in the April 11 death of Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, who was shot during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb. The full body camera video shows that Potter apparently mistook her handgun for a Taser and fired a fatal shot into Wright.
Potter told jurors she would not have pulled Wright over had she been driving the squad car that day. She was not. Field officer Anthony Lucky, whom Potter was training, was behind the wheel. According to her account, Lucky decided to stop Wright's white Buick because of expired license plate tags and an air freshener hanging from the mirror.
Once the vehicles were stopped, Potter and Lucky approached Wright outside the Buick and told him he had a warrant and was being arrested. Potter said she watched as Lucky tried to handcuff Wright, who tensed up. In her telling, the situation unraveled from there.
"We were trying to keep him from driving away. It just went chaotic," Potter said, crying, as her defense attorney questioned her. She recalled yelling "Taser Taser Taser" and said nothing happened. Then, she said, Wright told her she had shot him.
The cross-examination was more difficult. State prosecutor Erin Eldridge played portions of Potter's graphic body camera footage and pressed her on her actions, and Potter cried again as the video ran. The state's argument, as reported, is that her conduct in the shooting was reckless or criminal.
After Potter left the stand, the defense rested its case. The prosecution declined to call any rebuttal witnesses, which brought the evidence phase of the trial to a close sooner than many might have expected.
The case now moves to its final stage. Both sides are scheduled to deliver closing statements on Monday. The jury will then receive its instructions and begin deliberating on the first- and second-degree manslaughter counts against Potter.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
We were trying to keep him from driving away. It just went chaotic.— Kim Potter, testifying under questioning by her defense attorney
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