Fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright: Minnesota officer who confused gun with Taser charged with manslaughter

Flowers placed on a banner as demonstrators gather outside the Brooklyn Center to protest Sunday's fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. Photo / John Minchillo, AP

A former suburban Minneapolis police officer has been arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright in a shooting that ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police.

The charge against former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter was filed three days after Wright was killed during a traffic stop and as the nearby murder trial progresses for the ex-officer charged with killing George Floyd last May, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said.

The former Brooklyn Center police chief has said that Potter, a 26-year veteran and training officer, intended to use her Taser on Wright but fired her handgun instead.

However, protesters and Wright's family members say there's no excuse for the shooting and it shows how the justice system is tilted against Blacks, noting Wright was stopped for expired car registration and ended up dead.

Former officer Kim Potter fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. Photo /vBruce Bisping, Star Tribune via AP

Intent isn't a necessary component of second-degree manslaughter in Minnesota. The charge — which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison — can be applied in circumstances where a person is suspected of causing a death by "culpable negligence" that creates an unreasonable risk or consciously takes chances to cause the death of a person.

Asked how he arrived at the charging decision, Orput said: "I think it'll be evident when you read the complaint," which was not yet available.

Potter, 48, was arrested Wednesday morning at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St Paul. Her attorney did not immediately respond to messages from the Associated Press.
Potter and Police Chief Tim Gannon both resigned Tuesday.

Daunte Wright and his son Daunte Jr., at his first birthday party. Photo / Ben Crump Law, PLLC, via AP

The Star Tribune reported that concrete barricades and tall metal fencing had been set up around Potter's home in Champlin, north of Brooklyn Center, with police cars guarding the driveway. After Floyd's death last year, protesters demonstrated several times at the home of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer now on trial in Floyd's death.

Police say Wright was pulled over for expired tags on Sunday, but they sought to arrest him after discovering he had an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June.

Body camera video that Gannon released Monday shows Potter approaching Wright as he stands outside of his car as another officer is arresting him.

Angie Golson, grandmother of Daunte Wright, cries as she speaks outside the Hennepin County Government Cente in Minneapolis. Photo / John Minchillo, AP

As Wright struggles with police, Potter shouts, "I'll Tase you! I'll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!" before firing a single shot from her handgun.

Wright family attorney Ben Crump said the family appreciates the criminal case, but he again disputed that the shooting was accidental, arguing that an experienced officer knows the difference between a Taser and a handgun.

"Kim Potter executed Daunte for what amounts to no more than a minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanour warrant," he said.

Experts say cases of officers are rare, usually less than once a year nationwide.

Authorities fire gas munitions at demonstrators gathered outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department to protest the shooting death of Daunte Wright. Photo / John Minchillo, AP

Transit officer Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison after responding to a fight at a train station in Oakland, California, killing 22-year-old Oscar Grant in 2009. Mehserle testified at trial that he mistakenly pulled his .40-calibre handgun instead of his stun gun.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a white volunteer sheriff's deputy, Robert Bates, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter after accidentally firing his handgun when he meant to deploy his stun gun on Eric Harris, a Black man who was being held down by other officers in 2015.

Potter was an instructor with the Brooklyn Center police, according to the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. She was training two other officers when they stopped Wright, the association's leader, BIll Peters, told the Star Tribune.

In her one-paragraph letter of resignation, Potter said, "I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department, and my fellow officers if I resign immediately."

Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said Tuesday that he hoped Potter's resignation would "bring some calm to the community", but that he would keep working toward "full accountability under the law".

Police and protesters faced off again after nightfall Tuesday, with hundreds of demonstrators once more gathering at Brooklyn Center's heavily guarded police headquarters, now ringed by concrete barriers and a tall metal fence, and where police in riot gear and National Guard soldiers stood watch.

About 90 minutes before a 10pm curfew, state police announced over a loudspeaker that the gathering had been declared unlawful and ordered the crowds to disperse. That set off confrontations, with protesters launching fireworks toward the station and throwing objects at officers, who launched flashbangs and gas grenades, then marched in a line to force back the crowd.

State police said the dispersal order came before the curfew because protesters were trying to take down the fencing and throwing rocks at police. The number of protesters plummeted over the next hour, until only a few remained. Police also ordered all media to leave.

Brooklyn Center, a suburb just north of Minneapolis, has seen its racial demographics shift dramatically in recent years. In 2000, more than 70 per cent of the city was white. Today, a majority of residents are Black, Asian or Hispanic.

Elliott said Tuesday that he didn't have at hand information on the police force's racial diversity but that "we have very few people of colour in our department".

- AP