Family calls for more serious charges

Daunte Wright’s family members joined with community leaders Thursday in calling for more serious charges against a white police offi- cer in Wright’s death, comparing her case to the murder charge brought against a Black officer who killed a white woman in nearby Minneapolis.

Former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter in Sunday’s shooting of Wright, a 20-yearold Black man, during a traf- fic stop. The former police chief in Brooklyn Center, a majority nonwhite suburb, said Potter mistakenly fired her handgun when she meant to use her Taser. Both the chief and Potter resigned Tuesday.

Potter — who was released on $100,000 bond hours after her arrest Wednesday — appeared alongside her attorney, Earl Gray, at her initial appearance Thursday over Zoom, saying very little. Her next court appear- ance was set for May 17

Protesters who have confronted police all week since Wright’s death and Wright’s family members say there’s no excuse for the shooting and want Potter to face more serious charges.

Crump and other advo- cates for Wright point to the 2017 case of Mohamed Noor. The Black former Minneapolis police officer fatally shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a white woman who was dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, in the alley behindher home after she called 911 to report what she thought was a woman being assaulted.

Noor was convicted of third-degree murder in addi- tion to second-degree man- slaughter and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison.