Officer Kim Potter, who shot Daunte Wright will be charged with second-degree manslaughter
Officer Kim Potter, who accidentally shot at and killed Daunte Wright, is to be charged with second-degree manslaughter. Potter has been arrested and will be held in custody.
Responding to the charges, the Wright family’s lawyer Ben Crump said the killing was an “intentional, deliberate, and unlawful use of force”.
Wright was shot after being stopped by police for a traffic violation. Body-cam footage of the incident where shows Kim Potter accidentally shoot at Daunte Wright, having mistakenly drawn her gun instead of her Taser.
Officer Potter and Police Chief Tim Gannon have both quit the Brooklyn Center force.
The killing has sparked three nights of clashes between police and protesters, despite the city being on lockdown.
The shooting occurred in suburban Minneapolis, a city already on edge amid the trial of a white ex-police officer accused of murdering African American George Floyd.
Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said that Potter had been arrested on Wednesday morning at the BCA in St Paul and would be booked into Hennepin County Jail on probable cause of second-degree manslaughter.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 (£14,500) fine. Prosecutors must show that Mrs. Potter was “culpably negligent” and took an “unreasonable risk” in her actions.
