Kim Potter, the former Minnesota police officer who shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright after she says she mistook her gun for a Taser, has been found guilty on manslaughter charges.
A Minneapolis jury found Potter guilty Thursday on charges of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Wright, a Black man, in April 2021. Potter fatally shot Wright during a traffic stop. She says she thought her gun was a Taser, and video showed her shouting "Taser" and saying "Holy s--t. I just shot him."
Potter testified in her defense during the trial, saying she was "very distraught" after the shooting and "didn't want to hurt anybody." Prosecutors said the case was about "an officer who knew she could kill someone if she got it wrong but failed to make sure she got it right," per NPR, and attorneys for Wright's family said the "argument that she mistook her firearm for her Taser is simply beyond comprehension and a damning indictment of both her and the Brooklyn Center Police Department's practices and training protocols."
According to The New York Times, the maximum sentence on the most serious charge is 15 years. Potter's conviction comes after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted this year in the murder of George Floyd, and he was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. Potter is scheduled to be sentenced in February.