A former US police officer was found guilty Thursday on two charges of manslaughter of a young African-American man after claiming she mistook her gun for her Taser.
Kim Potter, 49, had been charged with first and second degree manslaughter over the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, 20, in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in April.
Potter did not react as Judge Regina Chu read the guilty verdicts in court.
The former policewoman had pleaded not guilty and claimed the shooting was an accident, saying she mistakenly grabbed her firearm instead of her Taser stun gun.
In emotional testimony she had described how what was meant to be a routine traffic stop became “chaotic.”
“I remember yelling ‘Taser Taser Taser.’ And nothing happens, then he told me I shot him,” Potter said, bursting into tears.
On Sunday, April 11, 2021, the white policewoman was patrolling with a colleague who decided to look up the driver of a white Buick that had committed a minor traffic violation.
After realizing that the driver was the subject of an arrest warrant, the police officers decided to arrest him.
Wright, who was unarmed, resisted being handcuffed and restarted his car to try to flee. Potter then drew what she said she thought was her Taser.
On a body-camera recording of the scene, Potter can be heard shouting “Taser” several times, before shooting with her gun and fatally wounding Wright.
The incident came during the trial of white policeman Derek Chauvin, who had asphyxiated George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 by kneeling on his neck for some nine minutes.
Floyd’s death sparked nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.
Wright’s death also triggered several nights of protests and unrest in Brooklyn Center before Potter’s own arrest calmed tensions.
