Daunte Wright

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Here's what we know about Kim Potter, the officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright​

(CNN) — The fatal shooting of a 20-year-old Black man named Daunte Wright by a White police officer outside Minneapolis has prompted protests and clashes with law enforcement.
'How do we put life back together after this?' Daunte Wright's family mourns a young man killed by police
Wright was killed by Officer Kim Potter during a routine traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, according to police.
The fatal shooting and the demonstrations occurred about 10 miles from the Minneapolis courtroom where
former officer Derek Chauvin is on trial in the death of George Floyd last year.
The killing Sunday was at least the third high-profile death of a Black man during a police encounter in the Minneapolis area in the past five years, after the shooting of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights in 2016 and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May.
Here is what we know about Kim Potter:

Former chief: Shooting was accidental​


The town's police chief, Tim Gannon, who submitted his resignation Tuesday, said the portion of body-worn camera footage released Monday led him to believe the shooting was accidental and that the officer's actions before the shooting were consistent with the department's training on Tasers.
Gannon said "the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser, but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet." The fatal shooting appeared to be "an accidental discharge," he said.

She is a 26-year police veteran​


Officer Kim Potter submitted her resignation after the fatal shooting.

Officer Kim Potter submitted her resignation after the fatal shooting.
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 Sunday's shooting.
The BCA said additional personnel information is not public under state law during the investigation of 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.

She submitted a resignation letter​


Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott told CNN Tuesday that Potter has submitted a letter of resignation from the Brooklyn Center Police Department.
In a letter to Elliott, acting City Manager Reggie Edwards and then Police Chief Gannon, Potter wrote that she "loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability."
Police fire tear gas at protesters in a second night of demonstrations after Minnesota officer fatally shoots Black man1618423324132.gif1618423324159.gif
Elliott said Tuesday that Gannon had also resigned.
Cmdr. Tony Gruenig will be acting chief, the mayor said.
Elliott said Potter decided on her own to resign from the police department.
"We did not ask her to resign. That was a decision she made," he said.
At a news conference by Elliott Tuesday, people in the room voiced concerns that Potter resigned and was not fired. The mayor said he has "not accepted her resignation" and that his office is continuing to review the matter.
"We're doing our internal process to make sure that we are being accountable to the steps that we need to take," Elliott told reporters.

Potter attorney also represents officer in Floyd case​


Washington County Prosecutor Pete Orput told CNN that he "hopes" to have a charging decision regarding Potter in the fatal shooting of Wright by Wednesday.
Officer who shot Daunte Wright dead during traffic stop has resigned, mayor says
Earl Gray, a St. Paul-based attorney, told CNN he is representing Potter.
Gray is also the attorney for Thomas Lane, one of the four officers involved in Floyd's death who faces criminal charges. He was also a defense 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 Castile.
Gray, on Monday night, said he had no further comment on Sunday's shooting.1618423324159.gif
 

Everything Zen

Well-Known Member
I think it was an accident, but she shouldn’t have been so trigger happy in the first place over a minor incident. Hence her immediate contrite reaction in resigning. You don’t see that response when the actions were intentional. While I find this outcome refreshing- I’m frustrated that the hammer is coming down harder on this woman who is voluntarily doing all the right things that you should do in this situation rather than these white men with a long history of terrorizing our communities out here who really have a blood lust to kill people.
 

dicapr

Well-Known Member
I can see it. People do things remotely all the time and if one thing is off or you are not thinking about what you are doing things happen.

We see it in the medical field unfortunately. People doing things from muscle memory and not really thinking about her actions.

She probably draws her gun all of the time. So even though she may have been thinking no gun that hand was used to grabbing the gun so she did it automatic.
 

frizzy

Well-Known Member
She had that gun pointing at him for longer than a split-second moment.

What were their plans for him once he was handcuffed. Do they arrest you for misdemeanor offenses? Have they said what the outstanding warrant was for?
 

Transformer

Well-Known Member
I think it was an accident, but she shouldn’t have been so trigger happy in the first place over a minor incident. Hence her immediate contrite reaction in resigning. You don’t see that response when the actions were intentional. While I find this outcome refreshing- I’m frustrated that the hammer is coming down harder on this woman who is voluntarily doing all the right things that you should do in this situation rather than these white men with a long history of terrorizing our communities out here who really have a blood lust to kill people.

Her resigning is to protect her pension which she entitled to if she resigns before being fired.....she winning.
 

PatDM'T

Well-Known Member
Yes, I've been following this story. I find it hard to believe that the officer thought the gun was a taser. She had 26 years of experience on the police force.
Also isn't the
taser kept on
the opposite side
from the gun?
Also wouldn't it
be lighter?

I know accidents
happen, but the
privilege of carrying
a gun demands you
respect its power
and understand
fully its ability to ruin
a life just like that.

Careless mistakes
when dealing with
a deadly weapon
and when you had
time to yell about it
while holding it before
you and when you
are not new to it or
a taser seem
inexcusable to me.

So as so profoundly
stated by Dondré T Whitfield
"This has NEVER been
a war on CRIME.
In this country,
it has historically and
presently been a
war on COLOR!!!"
who is to say she
didn't pretend to
think it was a
taser but knowing
all along what it was
and hoping her little
act would fool the world?

So it is said
she was shaken
and upset after
the gun went off.
Pffft! :rolleyes:
Show me someone
who kills someone
for the first time
and is not shaken
by the event and I
will show you a
psychopath.

Even people who
plot for months to
commit a crime are
in shock when they
actually do it...
unless it is a habit.

I was giving her
kudos for resigning
and repping women
by doing the right thing
but when it was pointed
out she benefits from that,
I revoke her "one of us"
gender card.
She is one of them.

Skeptic Observer
is my middle
name ATM.
 
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free2bme

Well-Known Member
Mistake, not a mistake...frankly at this point I don't give a damn. If these are honest to goodness mistakes, there should be just as many white people catching bullets.

The fact of the matter is that America doesn't value black life. Cops are a reflection of the society. The cops shoot to kill without a second thought because they've been socialized to not value our lives.

Even deadly white criminals are given the benefit of doubt. "The mass shooter was having a bad day..." When confronting a white criminal they see someones son, brother, nephew, cousin. When they see any black person, they see a threat that must be eliminated.
 

dicapr

Well-Known Member
They need to carry malpractice insurance tie their actions to those fat pensions and see behaviors change

Exactly. Just because I believe this case could possibly have been a mistake it doesn’t mean I think she isn’t responsible for poor judgment and shouldn’t be prosecuted. When people in healthcare make mistakes they have to pay. I think your idea would actually get the change we have been demanding.
 
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