Last Call For Black Lives Still Matter, Con't

The now former police officer who killed Daunte Wright on Sunday was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter in Minnesota.

Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly A. Potter was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright, joining just a handful of officers who have faced charges after shooting someone they said they intended to shock with a Taser.

Potter, a 26-year veteran of the department who resigned Tuesday, was arrested and booked into the Hennepin County jail shortly after noon. Bodycam footage from the shooting Sunday shows her shouting "Taser!" three times before killing Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, with a single shot from her Glock 9-millimeter handgun. Police officials blamed the death on human error.

Protests over Wright's killing have focused on how Potter, who is white, carried out a sequence of events that led to the death of a Black motorist who had been stopped for a minor traffic violation. Wright cooperated with Potter and another police officer at first, but a criminal complaint filed Wednesday showed how the encounter turned violent after one of the officers told Wright he was being arrested on a warrant.

Potter fired her gun 12 seconds after Wright pulled himself free from the officers.

Potter was released from jail Wednesday evening after posting $100,000 bond. Her attorney, Earl Gray, was unavailable for comment.

Attorney Ben Crump, who said he has been retained by Wright's family, issued a statement with co-counsel Jeff Storms and Antonio Romanucci in response to the charges.

"While we appreciate that the district attorney is pursuing justice for Daunte, no conviction can give the Wright family their loved one back," the statement said. "Driving while Black continues to result in a death sentence. A 26-year veteran of the force knows the difference between a Taser and a firearm."

 

Second-degree manslaughter is a maximum 10-year/$20k fine sentence in Minnesota. A judge could really make her life hell in sentencing.

 

But there has to be a conviction first, and 99% of the time, police officers are never convicted. And why would they be? Who wants to be a juror in a case like this, knowing that the police have your name and address? You vote to convict a cop, suddenly you're getting pulled over for traffic stops every week.  And if you're a Black juror? Well, you get one traffic stop, and then maybe the officer on the scene mistakes their taser for a service Glock too.

And even then, the most likely sentence is probation. She quietly gets hired back at a desk job after the trial. 

 

And Daunte Wright is still dead.

Black Lives Still Matter.