Daunte Wright shooting: US judge sentences cop to 2 years

A judge in the US state of Minnesota on Friday sentenced former police officer Kim Potter to two years in prison for the killing of Black motorist Daunte Wright. 

Potter was convicted of first- and second-degree manslaughter in December.

Minnesota state law dictates a defendant be sentenced only on the more serious charge. Minnesota sentencing guidelines recommend between six and eight-and-a-half years in prison for the crime of first-degree manslaughter, with a presumptive sentence of seven years.

Prosecutors had argued for a seven-year sentence.

What did the judge say?

"In this case, a young man was killed because Officer Potter was reckless. Rightfully, there should be some accountability," said Judge Regina Chu Friday. Nevertheless, Chu said a lesser sentence was warranted in the case as Potter was, "in the line of duty and doing her job in attempting to lawfully arrest Daunte Wright."

Chu added that Potter was also trying to protect another officer who could have been dragged and seriously injured as Wright drove away from the incident.

Chu said that 49-year-old Potter will serve two-thirds of her sentence (16 months) in prison and the remainder on parole. The 58 days that she has already served will be subtracted from her sentence. The former officer had no prior criminal record, nor was she ever cited for disciplinary issues throughout her long career.

Attorney general urges people to accept the sentence

Upon announcement of the sentence, Wright's mother Katie said Potter "murdered my son. Today the justice system murdered him all over again."

Wright's family and lawyers argued racial discrimination in the sentencing, citing the case of a Black officer receiving a harsher sentence for killing an unarmed white woman, Justine Damand, in 2017.

Chu referred to the Damand case as well as that of George Floyd — both of which happened just miles away from where Wright was shot — as she rebutted the accusation: "This is not a cop found guilty of murder for using his knee to pin down a person for 9 1/2 minutes as he gasped for air. This is not a cop found guilty of manslaughter for intentionally drawing his firearm and shooting across his partner and killing an unarmed woman who approached his squad car. This is a cop who made a tragic mistake."  

Wright's mother Katie had previously told Potter in court, "I'll never be able to forgive you for what you have stolen from us."

In brief remarks to the court Friday, Potter offered a tearful apology to Wright's family, saying, "I am so sorry that I hurt you so badly. My heart is broken and devastated for all of you."

The Minnesota attorney general's office had originally argued that Potter should be jailed for 86 months, in line with state guidelines for first-degree manslaughter.

"Life is something this society holds in the highest regard," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote in a memo to Chu's court on Tuesday. "The degree of Defendant Potter's recklessness in handling her firearm and causing Daunte Wright's death cannot be excused or even minimized."

On Friday, Ellison, whose office prosecuted the case, said he accepted the sentence and urged others to do the same. Ellison acknowledged that Chu had carefully considered the case, noting that the sentence doesn't take away from "the truth of the jury's verdict."

Complicated and tragic incident

Potter shot Wright last April 11, during a routine traffic stop. Brooklyn Center officers had pulled him over for expired license plate tags and having an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota. At the time of the shooting, Wright had an outstanding arrest warrant for a misdemeanor weapons possession charge.

When the 20-year-old Wright slipped away from the arresting officer as he was being handcuffed and jumped into his car to flee, a scuffle began. It ended with Potter drawing her firearm and shooting Wright in the chest before he sped away in the vehicle before crashing it. 

Video of the incident showed Potter repeatedly yelling "Taser!" before shooting Wright. During her trial, Potter testified that she feared for the life of a third officer who had entered the car through the passenger side.

Potter, a 26-year police force veteran, claimed she had mistaken her handgun for her taser.   

The shooting in Brooklyn Center triggered several nights of protests, gaining national attention at a time when many Americans were reckoning with racism and police violence.

In handing down her sentence Judge Chu called the case one of the saddest in her 20-year career: "On the one hand, a young man was killed. And on the other a respected 26-year veteran police officer made a tragic error by pulling her hand gun instead of her Taser."

js/wd (AP, Reuters)