Kim Potter sentencing: Ex-cop who killed Daunte Wright hit with 16 months behind bars

Former Minnesota police Officer Kim Potter was hit with 16 months behind bars for killing Daunte Wright after mistaking her service firearm for a stun gun throughout a site visitors cease in April 2021. The punishment was considerably under the state-recommended minimal.

Judge Regina Chu handed down the sentence in a Minneapolis courtroom over the objection of prosecutors after Potter apologized to the sufferer’s household. The former Brooklyn Center officer will serve 16 months in jail adopted by eight months of supervised launch.

“To the family of Daunte Wright, I am so sorry that I brought the death of your son, father, brother, uncle, grandson, nephew,” stated Potter, 49, sobbing, as she turned to deal with the slain man’s mom straight. “Katie, I understand a mother’s love, and I am sorry I broke your heart. My heart is broken for all of you.”

Former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter reacts as Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu reads the decision on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021.
(Court TV by way of AP, Pool)

The decide stated Potter honorably served her group for 26 years and a whole bunch of letters “painted a portrait of a woman who touched a lot of people in a good way.”

“She never intended to hurt anyone. Her conduct cries out for a sentence significantly below the guidelines.”

— Judge Regina Chu

Chu instructed the courtroom that Potter was clearly remorseful. “She showed that today, she showed that when it happened,” the decide stated, combating again tears. “She never intended to hurt anyone. Her conduct cries out for a sentence significantly below the guidelines.” 

The sentencing vary on first-degree manslaughter is barely greater than six years to about 8 ½ from which a decide can depart if there are mitigating or aggravating circumstances.

Potter was making an attempt to arrest Wright on an open warrant April 11, 2021, for failure to seem on a weapons cost when she drew her gun as an alternative of her stun gun throughout an arrest in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis. 

She was attempting to guard a fellow officer on the opposite aspect of the automobile, who may have been dragged and significantly injured when Wright tried to drive off, Chu stated.

Daunte Wright and his son, Daunte Wright Jr., at his first birthday celebration. 
(Ben Crump Law, PLLC. by way of AP)

“This is not a cop found guilty of murder for using his knee to pin down a person for 9½ minutes as he gasped for air,” stated the decide, evaluating the case to that of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted in the identical courthouse final April of murdering George Floyd in May 2020. “This is a cop who made a tragic mistake.” 

Potter was convicted by a jury in December of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter for the killing of Wright. Under Minnesota legislation, a defendant is sentenced solely on the highest cost.

‘YOUR WORLD’ ON POTTER’S GUILTY VERDICT 

Prosecutors pushed for the decide to impose the presumptive sentence of simply over seven years in jail, whereas her protection legal professionals argued for a probation-only punishment calling her actions an “innocent mistake” and Wright “the aggressor.”

Potter, a mom of two boys, has been in custody since she was discovered responsible. 

During emotional statements earlier than the sentencing was handed down, Wright’s relations questioned whether or not Potter was remorseful and urged the decide to impose the utmost sentence.

“April 11 was the worst day of my life,” stated Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, as she wiped away tears. “A police officer, who is supposed to serve and protect, took so much away from us. She took our baby boy away from us with a single gun shot to his heart and shattered mine.”

Left: Bodycam video reveals Brooklyn Center police making an attempt to arrest Daunte Wright on April 11, 2021. Right: Daunte Wright recorded himself taking part in with a handgun in a girl’s toilet in December 2019 shortly earlier than an alleged armed theft try.
(Brooklyn Center Police Department/Osseo Police Department)

Wright’s father, Aubrey Wright, known as his son his “reason to do better.”

The slain man’s youthful sister, Diamond Wright, stated he had a smile “that could light up a whole stadium” and known as his killing “murder.”

“One hint of Blackness in our skin makes us a target,” she stated.

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Chyna Whitaker, mom of Wright’s solely little one, cried as she described how their son, Daunte Wright Jr., was born untimely, they usually feared he would not survive. 

“I am now a single mother not by choice but by force,” she stated. “He is now 2 years old and, since April 11, 2021, fatherless.”

The lethal police confrontation with Wright unfolded after he was pulled over for expired license tags in Brooklyn Center – about 15 miles from the place Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis. 

Potter, a 26-year veteran with a spotless file, may be seen in physique digital camera footage shouting, “I’ll tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!” earlier than firing a single spherical. “I grabbed the wrong f—-ing gun,” she may be heard saying earlier than collapsing on the curb.

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The taking pictures by a White cop of a Black man sparked widespread demonstrations marked by clashes between protesters and police and got here within the midst of Chauvin’s trial for Floyd’s homicide.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.