The now-former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter will face manslaughter charges for shooting and killing Daunte Write.
The former police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright this week will be charged with second-degree manslaughter, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said Wednesday.
Kim Potter, the former officer, resigned Tuesday from the Brooklyn Center Police Department amid outrage after she shot Wright during a traffic stop two days earlier. The incident was captured on body-worn camera, and it set off days of unrest and protests in a region already on edge during the ongoing murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Second-degree manslaughter is one of the counts Chauvin was charged with last year after video emerged showing him pinning George Floyd under his knee. Under Minnesota law, a person convicted of the charge can face up to 10 years behind bars and a fine of up to $20,000.
Potter was taken into custody by agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday; she was booked into the Hennepin County Jail just after noon, according to jail records.
The charge against Potter is relatively unusual, as police who shoot and kill people are rarely charged. While the shooting took place in Hennepin County, the county attorney there sent the case to Orput’s office in Washington County as part of an agreement to have prosecutors investigate police shootings in other jurisdictions to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest.
Watch the body cam footage of the shooting for yourself here:
Anyone want to take bets on whether the prosecutors in this case will have an extended lessons learned session with the prosecutors in the Derrick Chauvin case?Report