Cop arrested over ‘Taser error’ death
Charges laid as riots flare across US
MINNEAPOLIS: Kimberly Potter, the white former Minnesota police officer who fatally shot 20-year-old black man Daunte Wright after drawing her gun instead of her Taser, has been arrested and will be charged with second-degree manslaughter, according to state prosecutors.
“Agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrested a former Brooklyn Centre police officer for the April 11 shooting death of Daunte Wright,” the agency wrote on Twitter.
“Agents took Kim Potter into custody at approximately 11.30am.”
The BCA said “after consultation” with Washington County prosecutors, Ms Potter would be booked at the Hennepin County Jail. Washington County was chosen for the charges instead of Hennepin County, where Brooklyn Centre is located, to avoid a conflict of interest.
Ms Potter, 48, was charged a day after she resigned from the Brooklyn Centre Police Department in the wake of the shooting, which set off a third day of protests in the Minneapolis suburb.
The 26-year veteran and police chief Tim Gannon both resigned in the wake of the shooting. The city council also fired city manager Curt Boganey over the incident.
Ms Potter was training another officer at the time of her fatal “mistake”, according to a police department source. The official version of what happened is Mr Wright was pulled over in his car for an expired registration, and when he resisted Ms Potter shouted “Taser!” several times before firing.
But she had mistakenly drawn her gun instead of her Taser and fatally shot him.
Mr Wright’s father, however, has questioned how a 26-year police veteran could make such a basic “mistake”.
The shooting occurred not far from the Hennepin County Courthouse where white former police officer Derek Chavin is on trial for the murder of George Floyd, a black man, in May last year.
As with Mr Floyd’s death, the shooting of Mr Wright has sparked a wave of angry protests in Minneapolis and other cities in the US, including Portland and New York.
At least 60 protesters were arrested in Minnesota during a third night of violent street demonstrations.
Ms Potter reportedly fled her home after finding out her address had been leaked on social media by activists
State Patrol chief Matt Langer said on Wednesday that “upwards” of 60 people were arrested for rioting and other crimes during the third night of destruction in Brooklyn Centre. More than 50 people were arrested the previous day.
Mr Elliott blamed “outside elements” for planning to “show up to infiltrate peaceful protesters and cause mayhem”, adding: “Daunte’s death will not be exploited.”
Earlier in the day, the families of Mr Wright and Mr Floyd came together for a press conference to demand an end to police brutality and the killing of unarmed African-Americans by white officers. “The world is traumatised watching another African-American man being slain,” Mr Floyd’s brother Philonise said as he stood with Mr Wright’s relatives.
Barack Obama said he and his wife “empathise with the pain black parents and children are feeling”.