I quit says the killer cop who sparked riots
Officer shot dead black suspect in guns ‘mix-up’
THE police officer who shot dead a black suspect, after allegedly firing her pistol by mistake, quit last night.
Officer Kim Potter, pictured here for the first time, was training a rookie when she killed Daunte Wright, 20, sparking fresh riots in Minneapolis.
Married mother-of-two Ms Potter, 48, had been suspended from duty following Sunday’s shooting. The 26-year veteran claims she mixed up her weapons, although officers are supposed to wear their Glock pistol by their stronger hand and their Taser on the opposite side.
Tendering her resignation last night, she said: ‘I have loved every minute of being a police officer... but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department and my fellow officers if I resign immediately.’
Police chief Tim Gannon also quit, a day after he told a press conference that Mr Wright was killed following an ‘accidental discharge’. Mr Wright’s family rejected the official version of his death, which brought trouble back to the streets of the city where George Floyd was killed last May when a white officer knelt on his neck.
Protesters defied a curfew, carrying signs saying, ‘Jail all racist killer cops’. Police fired tear gas as some threw rocks and made about 40 arrests. There were also protests in New York, Seattle and Portland.
Mr Wright had been stopped for having air fresheners hanging from his rear-view mirror, which is illegal in the state of Minnesota. Family lawyer Ben Crump blamed his death on ‘implicit bias’, adding: ‘We don’t see these sort of things happening to white young people.’