Kim Potter, the police officer who killed Daunte Wright and sparked a new wave of anti-racism protests in the Minneapolis area; has been charged with second-degree manslaughter as we previously reported.
Potter was arrested Wednesday and charged over the death of Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, whom she killed during a police traffic stop on Sunday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
However, after posting bond on a $100,000 bail, Potter was released to await trial, per jail records reviewed by Insider. She is due in court on Thursday afternoon, the records say.
There were protests for several nights after Wright’s killing.
Under Minnesota law, second-degree manslaughter is defined as “culpable negligence” involving; “an unreasonable risk” in which a person “consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another.”
If Potter is found guilty, the crime carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a $20,000 fine.
Officers pulled Mr. Wright over on Sunday afternoon for a traffic violation related to expired registration tags. Officers then discovered that he had a warrant for his arrest.
As the police tried to detain Mr. Wright, he stepped back into his car, prompting a brief struggle with officers, Chief Gannon said.
In graphic body camera footage shown to reporters on Monday, one officer can be seen pointing a handgun at him and shouting “Taser.” After the car pulls away, the officer yells an obscenity and says; “I just shot him” to two other officers, according to the video.
The car traveled several blocks and struck another vehicle. The police and medical workers pronounced Mr. Wright dead at the scene.
The Hennepin County medical examiner concluded Monday that Mr. Daunte Wright; “died of a gunshot wound of the chest and manner of death is homicide.”
