Breaking: Officer who shot Daunte Wright will face second-degree manslaughter charge

[mysteryowl]

Source: StarTribune

The Washington County Attorney's Office will charge former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly A. Potter with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death on Sunday of Daunte Wright, according to Washington County Attorney Pete Orput.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman referred the case to Orput under a practice adopted last year among metro area county attorney's offices for deadly police shootings. It calls for the county attorney in the jurisdiction where the shooting took place to refer the case to one of the other counties, or the state Attorney General's Office, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigated the shooting.

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/officer-who-shot-daunte-wright-will-face-second-degree-manslaughter-charge/600045829/

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. There seems to already be a conflict of Interest if this bio

of Washington County Attorney Pete Orput is valid..

He is legal counsel to the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215333547

Thanks to celerity..great reporting..

[wnylib]

2. Here's hoping they get a conviction.

I think she is guilty of worse, but it would be hard to prove.

[BigmanPigman]

11. When they showed a taser and ann officer's gun next to

each other I said Holy Shit too. How the Hell could you mistake the two, they look 100% different and she was holding it for a few seconds.

[wnylib]

12. Yes, they look different and feel different

because they are different weights and have differrnt grips.

I, too, noticed in the video that she held it in front of her, aimed at the guy for a while as she called out "taser" 3 times. No way that an experienced officer did not feel the difference in her hand and see it in front of her.

She was in a power play, pissed off that he slipped away from her. She also has to have some racial hostility to go ahead and shoot him at point blank range, knowing it would kill him.

I would call it first degree murder because she had to know what she was doing and tried to cover it with the word taser, as if it was a mistake.

But there is no way to prove it, so the best they can do is manslaughter. At least that is better than letting her get off scot free.

[NH Ethylene]

13. I think it's a real phenomena though. Sometimes your brain plays tricks on you.

Especially in stressful situations.

I gather this has happened 16 times in the past. I recall one case out in LA or somewhere, a number of years ago. I think it was in an airport.

I'm glad she was arrested and I think manslaughter is appropriate. Even if the shooting was completely accidental, the police behavior and escalation lead up to this happening, and she/they need to held responsible for the outcome.

[PortTack]

3. Good news!!

[Paladin]

4. Appropriate. (nt)

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. This lady has been arrested

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Roc2020]

6. good news

here is hoping she gets jail time.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. That was a quick decision.

Usually they wrangle for weeks to see if ANY charges will be filed.

In my view, something's not as thorough as other cases. This is fast-track for some reason.

[Karma13612]

9. Aside from it being the right decision,

Last edited Wed Apr 14, 2021, 05:14 PM - Edit history (1)

It is also the right timing.

Up until now with past shootings, they drag their feet and hope the public will just be calm. Those days are over. Rightly so, the public wants immediate responses to everything. I mean, the cops act in subsecond responses with their weapons, the response to their racism should also be swift.

Edited for removal of unverified details about Potter’s police history.

[NutmegYankee]

8. That was the charge I expected. nt

[NH Ethylene]

14. It makes sense.

The idea that she intentionally killed him and just pretended that she was going to taze him to throw people off is something a jury would find preposterous.

[Karma13612]

10. Also a quick question:

Is it safe to aim at the chest with a taser?

I read somewhere the it was ill-advised because the heart is right there and you can possibly damage the heart with the electrical impulses.

I am asking because if Potter was thinking she was firing her taser, then why did she get Duante in the chest, which is where you to aim you bullet loaded WEAPON as in ‘shoot to kill’.

I’m just curious. Why didn’t she aim at a leg or something?

Something smells fishy.

[TexasBushwhacker]

15. No. A taser shot to the chest can be lethal

My guess is that she let her anger take over because he wasn't "cooperating" and she shot him out of spite.

[Karma13612]

16. Well then,

This whole disgusting event needs to be explored then.

According to news reports, the fella was shot in the chest.

IF she is telling the truth that she thought she was tasing him, then in the process of tasing him she would NOT have been aiming at his chest.

She got him in the chest because she was intent on SHOOTING to kill. Not tasing.

Defense is going to be interesting. I think the prosecution is going to have a field day with this.

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. Reminds me of all the injuries with "rubber bullets"

Calling them rubber bullets makes it sound like they're shooting pencil erasers. People have lost eyes, gotten severe head injuries, because LE fired AT their head or body, which they aren't supposed to do. They're supposed to fire the round at the ground in front of the protestors, with the intent that they will be hit with a ricochet. It would hurt like hell, but wouldn't cause serious injury.

[EndlessWire]

18. You don't know what her intent was.

I read a training thing from Oregon. I know this case is not in Oregon, but I wanted to read something that might hint at the training of where to aim. It specifically said that while you would want to aim lower, it was not a sure thing as to whether you would hit in the chest or not. It was incident specific and not a guarantee that you would hit exactly where you wanted.

As tragic as this was, you just don't have all the evidence.