Cop testifies about moments before Wright shooting

MINNEAPOLIS — A police sergeant at the scene when Daunte Wright was shot testified Friday that he was holding Wright’s right arm with both hands to prevent him from driving away, as prosecutors sought to build their case that suburban Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter acted unreasonably when she shot and killed him.

Potter, who resigned from the Brooklyn Center police force two days after she killed Wright, said she meant to draw her Taser when she shot the 20-year-old after pulling him over on April 11 and discovering there was a warrant for his arrest.

Mychal Johnson, a supervisor of Potter’s at the time, testified that he was holding Wright’s right arm with both hands to prepare him for handcuffs, but that he dropped Wright’s arm when he heard Potter yell “Taser, Taser, Taser!”

Prosecutor Matthew Frank pointed out that Johnson, who is now a major in a sheriff ’s department southeast of Minneapolis, did not draw his own Taser or gun. And Johnson testified that department policy dictated that Tasers shouldn’t be used on people operating vehicles to avoid incapacitating the person and causing an accident, though Wright’s car wasn’t moving when Potter shot him.

Potter, 49, is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Wright, who was pulled over for having expired license plate tags and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror.

Prosecutors say Potter was a veteran officer who had received extensive Taser training that included multiple warnings about not confusing it with a handgun.

Defense attorneys counter that Potter made a mistake but also would have been justified in shooting Wright if she had consciously chosen to do so because other officers, including Johnson, might have been dragged if Wright drove away.

Potter is white and Wright was Black, and the shooting happened as former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was standing trial nearby in George Floyd’s death. Wright’s death set off days of protests and clashes with law enforcement in Brooklyn Center.

The case is being heard by a mostly white jury.

State sentencing guidelines call for just over seven years in prison upon conviction of firstdegree manslaughter and four years for second-degree, though prosecutors have said they plan to push for even longer sentences.