“I loved Daunte. He was loved,” said Arbuey Wright, Daunte Wright’s father, on the sixth day of the Kim Potter trial. “I miss him a lot, every day.”
Arbuey Wright took the stand Wednesday to deliver the “spark of life” testimony, a personal testimony from a loved one about the victim’s life story.
“We had a close relationship,” the elder Wright said, his voice trembling as photos of him, his son and grandson were shown on a screen. Wright’s mother, Katie, was present in the courtroom with other family members. She and Alayna Albrecht-Payton, Daunte Wright’s girlfriend, testified earlier in the trial.
According to ABC News, the “spark of life” testimony traces back to a 1985 Supreme Court case and Minnesota rarely allows them, reserving these emotional testimonies for victim impact statements during sentencing. George Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, delivered the spark of life testimony in the Derek Chauvin trial earlier this year.
Wright was a manager at Famous Footwear, where he worked with his son for about a year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To see him as a father, it was like, I was so happy for him, because he was so happy. He was so happy about Junior. It was my chance to be a grandfather,” Wright said, according to ABC. “He loved his son.”
The 20-year-old is survived by his 2-year-old son, Daunte Wright Jr., who the family refers to as Junior.
According to KARE 11, Wright took the stand after the prosecution’s expert witness Seth Stoughton, an associate professor with a law enforcement background from the University of South Carolina School of Law, who spoke about the difference between a risk and threat.
Stoughton testified that former Minnesota officer Kim Potter, who is facing first and second-degree manslaughter charges, may have created an even more dangerous situation with her actions.
Potter claimed that she mistook her gun for a taser on April 11 when she fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. The defense argues that she was trying to protect her partner who was still reaching into Wright’s car when Wright got back in the driver’s seat.
Here’s more from Stoughton’s testimony, from KARE 11:
He stated that he believed Wright presented a threat of escaping arrest, not of imminent threat or harm to the officers. He said because the officers were aware of Wright’s identity and several identifying factors of his address and contact information, he was unlikely to avoid future apprehension, therefore, an officer under this circumstance would pursue an arrest later.
Stoughton also told prosecutor Frank that he believed the use of a Taser would have been inappropriate under those circumstances, as Wright was in a position to operate a vehicle. He said that by potentially incapacitating Wright while driving, it would have created an even more dangerous situation.
He then went on to describe the positioning of Wright in relation to Potter as she allegedly meant to draw her Taser and use it to incapacitate Wright. Stoughton explained how a Taser needs a specific range of spread between the Taser’s prongs on a person’s body to be effective. He said Potter and Wright would have been too close, and the discharge of a Taser from that range would have likely only resulted in pain.
The prosecution is expected to rest on Thursday, ABC News reports, and the defense will begin calling witnesses. Potter is expected to take the stand in her own defense.