The third day in the trial against former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter has begun. Potter, 49, has pled not guilty to first and second-degree manslaughter charges. If convicted, she can face at least ten years in prison.
In April, she and Officer Anthony Luckey, whom Potter was training, pulled Daunte Wright, 20 over at a traffic stop for expired plate tags. During the stop, officers learned that Wright had an outstanding warrant for his arrest on a gross misdemeanor weapons charge and attempted to arrest him.
A scuffle ensued, and Potter grabbed her gun instead of her taser and shot Wright, fatally killing him. In the video, Potter appears distraught as she slumps to the curb, saying, “S—, I just shot him … I grabbed the wrong f—-ing gun. I shot him.”
During day one of the trial, the prosecution and the defense gave their opening statements and the trial’s first witness was called to the stand. That witness was Wright’s mother, Katie Bryant, who described rushing to the scene only to find her son’s body on the ground.
On the second day of the trial, Daunte Wright’s girlfriend, Alayna Albrecht-Payton, took the stand. She was in the car with Wright at the time of the shooting. According to her testimony, she tried to get a response from Wright, but he “wasn’t answering me and he was just gasping.”
Several other witnesses took the stand, including Brooklyn Center office Alan Douglas Salvosa, who is a 12-year member of the force that had previously worked with Potter.
Kim Potter’s Former Supervisor: She ‘Had The Right’ To Use Deadly Force
#KimPotterTrial – Cross-exam by Earl Gray. Johnson says if #DaunteWright would have taken off while Johnson was in the car, he could have been dragged/injured/dead. Johnson agrees per a state statute, Potter would have had the right to use deadly force. @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/UMy9I0uA06
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) December 10, 2021
On the third day of the trial, Potter’s former supervisor, Brooklyn Center police officer Mychal Johnson, testified that he could have been injured during her struggle with Wright and said that she had a right to use deadly force.
During over two hours of testimony, Johnson explained that he had been halfway in the car when they attempted to arrest Wright.
Defense attorney Earl Gray asked him, “And if he [Wright] had taken off with you in that car halfway, what would have happened to you? What do you think would be the worst that would happen?”
Johnson said that he would be “probably dragged” before admitting that he could have been seriously injured or even killed. He then adds that “by state statute,” it would be “fair for [an] officer to use a firearm to try to stop him,” in response to Gray’s question.
Gray concluded the line of questioning by asking, “So basically, based on these videos, and the conduct of Daunte Wright, as far as you’re concerned — and you were there — Kimberly Potter would have had a right to use a firearm, right?”
Johnson responded, “Yes.”
Officers Were Concerned That Potter Might Try To Harm Herself
#KimPotterTrial – On Johnson’s body worn camera footage you see Potter hysterical on the ground and Johnson says to her, “Kim, that guy was trying to take off with me in the car.” @LawCrimeNetwork #DaunteWright pic.twitter.com/IjtsMsHtUG
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) December 10, 2021
Footage from Johnson’s body camera was also played at the trial. After the shooting, Potter can be seen collapsing to the ground, saying, “I’m going to prison.” She then leans against a fence and says, “Oh my god! What am I going to do?” several times.
Johnson then approaches Potter and asks her for her gun. Potter responds, “Just let me kill myself, Mike.”
Johnson replies, “No, that’s not happening, Kim.”
Johnson then testified that he took Potter’s gun from her because of “her mental state of not knowing what she might do.” He testified that another officer, Colleen Fricke, was also concerned that Potter was going to harm herself.
“I knew that her firearm was a piece of evidence at that time so I removed her firearm and put it in my holster, and put my gun in her holster, just so that that evidence was preserved,” he explained.
While Potter was sitting in the back of a squad car, he asked if he could take his firearm back. He said that he was “able to turn away from her with my firearm, remove the magazine from it, and the one round that was in the chamber” without Potter seeing.
He testified that he did not go to the crash scene where Wright was later pronounced dead.
