Defense rests at officer’s trial on Wright’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — The suburban Minnapolis police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright testified at her manslaughter trial Friday that she wouldn’t have pulled over his car if she hadn’t been training another officer and that she hadn’t planned to use deadly force that day.
Under questioning by a prosecutor, Kim Potter sobbed during her sometimes emotional testimony, saying at times, “I didn’t want to hurt anybody,” and later, “I’m sorry it happened.”
Potter was the final witness before the defense rested at the end of the second week of testimony. She said she shot Wright April 11 in Brooklyn Center in a moment of chaos after he tried to leave the scene as she and other officers were trying to arrest him on an outstanding warrant for a weapons violation.
Potter, 49, said she meant to use her Taser to subdue Wright when he pulled away from the officers and got back into his car, but shot him once with her handgun instead.
Potter’s attorneys argued that she made a mistake but also would have been justified in using deadly force if she had meant to because another officer was at risk of being dragged by Wright’s car. Potter testified that she decided to use her Taser because of the scared look she saw one of the other two officer’s eyes.
Potter said she yelled, “Taser!” repeatedly so the other officers, who were trying to get Wright out of his car, would disengage.
Prosecutors say Potter was an experienced officer who had extensive training in Taser use and the use of deadly force, and that her actions were unreasonable.
During cross-examination, prosecutor Erin Eldridge drove hard at Potter’s training, getting her to agree that her useof-force training was a “key component” to being an officer.
Potter testified that she was also trained on when to use force and how much to use, and that there was a policy that dictated what officers could or could not do.
The death of Wright set off angry demonstrations for several days in Brooklyn Center.
It happened as another white officer, Derek Chauvin, was standing trial in nearby Minneapolis for the killing of George Floyd.
The defense began its case on Thursday.