Officer Who Shot And Killed Daunte Wright Charged With Manslaughter

Kim Potter, the white Minnesota police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, was arrested Wednesday and will be charged with second-degree manslaughter, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Potter resigned from the Brooklyn Center police department Tuesday along with the department’s chief Tim Gannon. At a press conference Monday, Gannon called the shooting an “accidental discharge,” and indicated Potter allegedly intended to use her Taser. She had initially been put on administrative leave as the incident is under investigation.

Following Wright’s death, there have been three consecutive days of protesters in Brooklyn Center confronting police and demanding justice for the shooting.

Wright, 20, was killed in Brooklyn Center after police say they pulled him over during a traffic stop around 2 p.m. Sunday. Police claim the officer shot Wright after he “re-entered the vehicle” during an arrest; Wright’s vehicle then “traveled several blocks” and hit another vehicle. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

“While we appreciate that the district attorney is pursuing justice for Daunte, no conviction can give the Wright family their loved one back," said Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer who is representing the Wright family.

Wright is the father of a two-year-old, his mother Katie Wright told Star Tribune reporter Kim Hyatt. Members of Wright’s family spoke out on Tuesday, grieving while remembering him.

“I just wanna say … I ain’t get the chance to tell my cousin I love him, but I’m tellin’ him I love him now,” his cousin Mario Greer said.