Potter was training a new officer on the day she shot Daunte Wright, prosecutor says

Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Erin Eldridge said that on the day she shot Daunte Wright, Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran police officer, was training a new officer.

While they were out on patrol in April, Potter and the trainee saw an “air freshener” hanging from Wright’s rearview mirror and decided to stop the vehicle, the prosecutor said. After they stopped the car, the officers noticed that the tags were expired.

The training officer approached Wright’s white Buick and when he questioned the 20-year-old, Wright gave his information and “answered all the questions that were asked of him.”

Eldridge said the officers ran his name through the system and found an outstanding warrant on a misdemeanor weapons violation. They decided to arrest him on that warrant.

During the arrest, the “scared” Wright attempted to get back in his car and flee, the prosecutor said.

Eldridge played a video of the shooting for the jury in court. The video clip shows Potter, with her gun drawn, warning Wright multiple times as he is getting back into the driver’s seat of his car that she is going to “tase” him. She then pulls the trigger.

After Potter appears to realize that she shot Wright with his gun — not her Taser — the officer says, “S**t, I just shot him, I grabbed the wrong f***ing gun and I shot him … I’m going to go prison … I killed a boy.”

The state’s opening statement is ongoing.

Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Erin Eldridge told the jury during her opening statement that 20-year-old Daunte Wright had his “whole adult life ahead of him” when he was shot and killed on April 11, 2021.

She said Wright lived at home with his parents and had six siblings in a “large, blended family.”

She said as a child, he wanted to be a pro basketball player when he grew up. He worked with his dad at a shoe store and had plans to enroll in a trade school.

Eldridge said Daunte had a son, Daunte, Jr., who was 1 years old when his father was killed. She said Daunte, Jr. is a “toddler now, fatherless.”

On April 11, Eldridge said Daunte’s mom gave him money to get his car washed, and he headed out with his girlfriend.

“He never made it to the car wash that day, and he never made it home,” because he was shot dead by the defendant, former officer Kim Potter, Eldridge said.

The state’s opening statement is ongoing.

Opening statements in the trial of a former suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright during a routine traffic stop just began.

Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Erin Eldridge is delivering the opening statement on behalf of the state.

The jury took an oath moments ago. The 14 jurors, including two alternates, are seven White men, four White women, two Asian women and a Black woman.  

Officer Kimberly Potter, 49, faces first- and second-degree manslaughter charges in a homicide her lawyers have suggested resulted from her mistaking her gun for a Taser in April. Potter has pleaded not guilty and faces at least a decade in prison if convicted.

The shooting of the 20-year-old Black man happened in Brooklyn Center, a few miles from the Hennepin County Government Center where former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was on trial for killing Floyd.

Other key players today: Potter’s defense attorneys are Paul Engh and Earl Gray, who have previously represented police officers in closely watched cases.

Matthew Frank, an assistant attorney general who was the lead prosecutor against Chauvin, is handling Potter’s case before Hennepin County Judge Regina M. Chu.

Opening statements in the trial of a suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright during a routine traffic stop are expected to start soon in the same courtroom where another ex-cop was convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd.

Here’s your guide to today’s opening statements:

What the trial is about: Officer Kimberly Potter, 49, faces first- and second-degree manslaughter charges in a homicide her lawyers have suggested resulted from her mistaking her gun for a Taser in April. Potter has pleaded not guilty and faces at least a decade in prison if convicted. 

The shooting of the 20-year-old Black man happened in Brooklyn Center, a few miles from the Hennepin County Government Center where former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was on trial for killing Floyd. 

The shooting’s aftermath: Wright’s killing set off several days of protests in the Minneapolis suburb. It rocked a metropolitan area scarred by other police-involved deaths and reignited national conversations about policing and the use of force against people of color.

Key evidence: Just as video footage played a crucial role in the case against Chauvin, body camera video is expected to be critical in the trial against Potter, who is White. 

Wright was driving on a Sunday afternoon in April when officers pulled him over for an expired tag, police said. The amended criminal complaint said Wright was also stopped because his car “had an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.”

In the footage, Potter can be heard yelling “Taser” repeatedly before she points her handgun and shoots the unarmed Wright.

After firing, Potter is heard yelling: “Holy s***! I just shot him!”

The trial’s attorneys: Potter’s testimony could also be crucial. Defense attorney Paul Engh told a prospective juror that Potter will take the stand. 

Potter’s defense attorneys, Engh and Earl Gray, have previously represented police officers in closely watched cases.   

Engh was an attorney for Jeronimo Yanez, the former St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer who was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the fatal shooting of Philando Castile. Gray represents another ex-cop facing charges in connection with Floyd’s death and also served on Yanez’s legal team. 

Matthew Frank, an assistant attorney general who was the lead prosecutor against Chauvin, is handling Potter’s case before Hennepin County Judge Regina M. Chu. 

The final members of the jury that will decide Potter’s fate were selected last week.

What we know about the jury: The 14 jurors, including two alternates, are seven White men, four White women, two Asian women and a Black woman.  

Read more about today’s events here.

Seven men and seven women were selected for the jury in the trial against Kim Potter, a former suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot a 20-year-old Black man during a traffic stop.

The jury also includes two alternates.

The jury is comprised of seven White men, four White women, two Asian women, and one Black woman. No Black men were selected for the jury.

Widely circulated body camera video of a suburban Minneapolis police officer fatally shooting Daunte Wright in a car during a traffic stop is likely to play a central role as she goes on trial Tuesday for her role in his death.

The shooting appears to be the result of Officer Kimberly Potter, 49, mistaking her gun for a stun gun, and happened in Brooklyn Center, a few miles from Minneapolis, during the trial against Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd.

The town’s police chief shared some video less than 24 hours after the shooting, to be transparent. 

In the body camera footage, Potter can be heard yelling “Taser” repeatedly before she shoots Wright, 20. After firing her handgun, she yells, “Holy s***! I just shot him!”

Video footage has also played a crucial role in recent high-profile homicide cases, resulting in a guilty verdict against Chauvin, not guilty verdicts against Kyle Rittenhouse for shooting three people during unrest last year, and guilty verdicts in the case of three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. 

Potter was originally charged with second-degree manslaughter in April and prosecutors added a first-degree manslaughter charge in early September. She faces at least a decade in prison if convicted. Opening arguments are scheduled to start today

You can read more about the video and the trial here.

The fatal shooting of a 20-year-old Black man named Daunte Wright by a White police officer outside Minneapolis prompted protests and clashes with law enforcement.

Wright was killed by Officer Kim Potter during a routine traffic stop in April in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, according to police.

Potter has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, according to a news release from Washington County Attorney Pete Orput’s office.

Here is what we know about Potter:

Potter, 48, was with the Brooklyn Center Police Department for 26 years, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. She joined the department in 1995, according to the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis.

She served as the police union’s president in 2019, had been on the department’s negotiation team and worked as field training officer, the Tribune reported.

She was placed on administrative leave after the shooting.

A county attorney’s report states this was not Potter’s first time dealing with the aftermath of a police officer shooting someone. In 2019, police fatally shot a man who was threatening his grandfather with a knife and hammer. The use of deadly force by police in that incident was ruled lawful, the report states.

In accordance with Brooklyn Center Police Department policies, Potter — who not present at the time of the shooting — gave instructions to the two officers involved in the shooting to get into different police cars, turn off their body cameras and not speak to each other.

Potter was not accused of any wrongdoing in this instance.

Read more about Potter here.