Kimberly Potter, the ex-Brooklyn Center, Minn., police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright, appeared at a court hearing one day after being charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Potter appeared via a virtual conference on Zoom and took issue with her first hearing being broadcast and photographed, a curious complaint given how often the lives of the people cops shoot and kill are interrogated extensively.
She is currently out on bail.
Minnesota District Judge Paul R. Scoggin reminded her she is not allowed any access to firearms, ammunition or explosives. Her lawyer said she would appear in person for her next hearing in one month.
Wright’s family wanted Potter to be charged with murder and said anything less would not suffice. The second-degree manslaughter charge carries a max of 10 years in prison, but Minnesota sentencing guidelines would make her time served closer to four years because she doesn’t have a criminal history, according to the Washington Post.
The charge came unusually fast given how cops are often not charged at all and are almost always found not guilty. Cops kill roughly 1,000 people each year, according to a Washington Post database. Most of these people they shoot are armed; Wright was unarmed.
Tim Gannon, the now-former chief of the BCPD, said that Potter meant to pull her Taser when she pulled her handgun. Gannon also resigned in response to the shooting. Potter served on the force for 26 years and was also the union president and has experience helping cops who found themselves in use-of-force situations.
During a press conference before the hearing, Wright’s family expressed their thoughts on what should happen to Potter, per the Post:
“We can’t get him back, so why should she get back her life?” Nyesha Wright, Daunte’s aunt, asked as the family gathered inside the Minneapolis church where his funeral will be held next week.
Katie Wright, Daunte’s mother, said even the best-case scenario of a conviction will leave the family with an unbearable loss.
“I do want accountability at the highest level, but even then, when that happens — if that even happens — we’re still going to bury our son,” Katie Wright said. “We’re still not going to be able to see our baby boy. So when people say ‘justice,’ I just shake my head.”
Potter’s next appearance is scheduled for May 17, in person, per NPR.
Mohamed Noor, an ex-Minneapolis cop who shot and killed Justine Damond, a white woman, in 2017, is believed to be the only Minnesota cop to be convicted of murder in an on-duty situation.
Next week, the jury in Derek Chauvin’s case is expected to reach a verdict that will hopefully make him the second cop in the state to join Noor in prison.