The female police officer who accidentally shot and killed Daunte Wright — a man who resisted arrest after police pulled him over in April in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota — will face a first-degree manslaughter charge.
This additional charge from Attorney General Keith Ellison means Kimberly Potter, who claims to have inadvertently drawn her firearm instead of a taser, now faces two. The initial charge was second-degree manslaughter.
A racist, leftist ideologue, Ellison took over the prosecution of the case from local prosecutors. Apparently, he feared they might give Potter a fair trial.
The New Charge
The new charge in Ellison’s amended criminal complaint is “predicated on reckless use/handling of a firearm,” which carries a 15-year sentence and $30,000 fine.
“On or about April 11, 2021, in Brooklyn Center, Hennepin County, Minnesota, Defendant Kimberly Ann Potter caused the death of Daunte Demetrius Wright, while committing the misdemeanor offense of reckless handling or use of a firearm so as to endanger the safety of another with such force and violence that death or great bodily harm to any person was reasonably foreseeable,” the complaint alleges.
The second-degree charge alleges “culpable negligence, whereby Kimberly Potter created an unreasonable risk and consciously took a chance of causing death or great bodily harm to Daunte Demetrius Wright, while using or possessing a firearm.”
Potter AmendedCriminalComplaintNeither charge seems true if Potter pulled the wrong weapon by accident. Body-camera footage clearly shows what occurred. Wright resisted officers as they tried to handcuff him, then tried to flee. “I’ll tase you!” Officer Kimberly Potter shouted. “I’ll tase you!”
“Taser, Taser, Taser,” she shouted again before pulling the trigger on her firearm.
“Holy sh*t,” she said moments later. “I just shot him.”
Potter also said, “I grabbed the wrong f**king gun.”
At the time, Wright’s mother claimed police stopped him because “air fresheners” hung from his rearview mirror.
That was utter nonsense.
As The New American reported, cops stopped Wright because his tags were expired and then found out he was wanted on an outstanding warrant. The Star-Tribune in Minneapolis reported that Wright had skipped a court appearance for two misdemeanors, a gun charge, and fleeing police.
Railroading The Cop
As for inadvertently pulling a firearm instead of a taser, the mistake is rare but not unheard of, a law journal reported in 2012. The journal documented nine such mistakes and two deaths between 2001 and 2009.
After the Wright shooting, the BBC reported two more recent deaths. In 2019, a cop mistakenly shot a shoplifter in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2015, a volunteer deputy in Tulsa, Oklahoma, mistakenly pulled his firearm and killed a man.
“Experts say weapon confusion does occur, and that training is the key to preventing such incidents,” the network reported:
“This comes down to how often she trains with the Taser,” US-based policing consultant Jeff Noble told the BBC.
“It’s a tool that doesn’t get used very often. You do have to do ongoing professional training.”
Ellison’s complaint admits that Potter received regular training:
During her 26 years as a police officer, Defendant received a substantial amount of training, including training related to use of force and, specifically, to the use of Tasers and firearms. Defendant completed annual recertification training courses on each of these weapons. These courses included training on how to draw, aim, and use each weapon correctly. The training material for these courses also included notices alerting Defendant to the possibility and risks of drawing a handgun instead of a Taser.
She received four hours of Taser training in March, a month before the shooting, and “was certified for use of the Taser,” the complaint reports. “On Defendant’s certificate of completion, Defendant provided her signature, acknowledging that she had read and understood the information and warnings provided by the manufacturer regarding safe use of the Taser.”
The complaint says Potter read and acknowledged warnings about drawing a firearm instead of the Taser, implying that she either lied about understanding the danger of pulling the wrong weapon or was grossly incompetent and negligent.
Antifa sympathizer Ellison knows Potter didn’t shoot Wright purposely, which means he filed the first charge, then amended the original complaint, to make an example of another white cop.
But even first-degree manslaughter isn’t likely enough for leftist Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan Democrat.
“It wasn’t an accident,” she tweeted after the shooting:
Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist.
Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence. I am done with those who condone government funded murder.
No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.
H/T: Legal Insurrection
