Cop Found Guilty In Taser/Gun Shooting Of Black Man

CNN reports:

Kim Potter has been found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter charges for fatally shooting Daunte Wright during a traffic-stop-turned-arrest on April 11, 2021.

Jurors deliberated for about 27 hours over the course of four days.

Potter, 49, had pleaded not guilty to the charges. She took the stand and testified before the jury, breaking down in tears as she recounted the shooting, eventually apologizing and insisting she “didn’t want to hurt anybody.”

NBC News reports:

The Hennepin County panel found Potter guilty of first-degree manslaughter, meaning she improperly used “such force and violence that death of or great bodily harm to any person was reasonably foreseeable.”

Jurors also found the white former officer guilty of second-degree manslaughter charge, which only required a finding of “culpable negligence” that created “unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another.”

Potter faces a maximum of 15 years behind bars. The jury consisted of one Black person, two Asian American people and nine white people.

The Washington Post reports:

When officers discovered Wright had an outstanding arrest warrant for a gross misdemeanor weapons violation, they tried to arrest him.

Wright struggled with another officer at the scene who was trying to handcuff him, and Potter, who is White, drew her gun and twice threatened to “Tase” Wright before firing a single shot, striking him in the chest.

Body-camera video captured the chaotic event, including Potter’s stunned reaction as she realized she had fired her handgun. “Holy s–t! I just shot him,” Potter yelled at another officer. “I grabbed the wrong f—–g gun. I shot him.”