Kim Porter, the former Minnesota police officer who is facing second-degree manslaughter charges in the shooting death of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April, just received some more bad news.
After a review by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office, Porter is also being charged with first-degree manslaughter, a more serious charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years, NBC News reports. The second-degree manslaughter charge carries a max sentence of 10 years.
Ellison “confirmed that the original second-degree manslaughter charge is appropriate, but also concluded that an upgraded charge of first-degree manslaughter is warranted,” his office said in a statement, NBC News notes.
Porter was the officer who was captured on bodycam footage yelling “Taser!” during a traffic stop of Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on April 11. But instead of her taser, Porter fired her gun at the 20-year-old, who had been pulled over for expired tags and an air freshener hanging from his mirror. Porter and another officer were attempting to arrest Wright for an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor weapons violation. But when Wright tried to get back into his car, he got into a struggle with the officers and was then shot once by Porter.
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The police chief at the time, Tim Gannon, has said he believes Potter meant to draw her Taser stun device but drew her handgun by mistake.
A short clip of body-camera video released by police appeared to show Wright trying to get back in his car as a female voice shouts, “Taser!”
The same female voice could be heard later saying, “Holy s—- I just shot him,” as the car pulled away, police have said. The indictment says that she also said, “I grabbed the wrong f—-ing gun.”
The new charge is first-degree manslaughter by recklessly handling a firearm, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office said.
Porter, a 26-year veteran of the force, resigned—as did Gannon, the Brooklyn Center police chief—after the shooting, which occurred about 14 miles north of the location where George Floyd was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020. At the time, the country was engrossed in the trial of Chauvin, who was found guilty on three counts of murder and manslaughter charges in Floyd’s death on April 20.