Minnesota prosecutor says cop 'betrayed her badge' in killing Daunte Wright

A white Minnesota police officer who killed a Black motorist "betrayed her badge" and flouted years of training by mistakenly using her pistol instead of her Taser, needlessly ending a young man's life, a prosecutor said on Wednesday during opening statements in the manslaughter trial.


Reuters | Updated: 09-12-2021 00:03 IST | Created: 09-12-2021 00:03 IST
Minnesota prosecutor says cop 'betrayed her badge' in killing Daunte Wright

A white Minnesota police officer who killed a Black motorist "betrayed her badge" and flouted years of training by mistakenly using her pistol instead of her Taser, needlessly ending a young man's life, a prosecutor said on Wednesday during opening statements in the manslaughter trial. Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Erin Eldridge made the comments in the trial of Kimberly Potter, a former police officer charged with manslaughter in the April death of Daunte Wright, 20.

"This case is about the defendant Kimberly Potter betraying her badge and betraying her oath and betraying her position of public trust," Eldridge told jurors. "Their duty to their badge and to the community is to protect life, not to take life." Potter, 49, has pleaded not guilty to first- and second-degree manslaughter charges, which carry maximum sentences of 15 and 10 years respectively. Her lawyers have said Potter thought she was using her Taser when the 26-year police veteran shot Wright in the chest with her Glock handgun during a traffic stop.

Potter's attorneys, who are due to give their opening statement to the jury, are expected to contend that she made an honest mistake under intense pressure, and that while Wright's death was tragic, the young man created a dangerous situation by resisting arrest and attempting to flee in his car. Caught on Potter's body-worn camera, the shooting of Wright triggered several nights of demonstrations in the city of Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, with critics calling the incident another example of police violence against Black Americans.

The shooting occurred just a few miles north of where Derek Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police officer, was standing trial https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jurors-resume-deliberations-derek-chauvin-murder-trial-2021-04-20 at the time in the case of George Floyd, a Black man whose death during a May 2020 arrest set off racial justice protests in many U.S. cities. Chauvin was convicted of murder. Eldridge talked at length about the extensive training received by Potter, which included two Taser-specific courses in the six months prior to the incident. Eldridge said Potter "flouted" her training and the police department's policies in how she handled her weapons and escalated the traffic stop.

The prosecutor wrapped up her remarks by showing jurors a photo of the jacket worn by Wright emblazoned with the phrase "Heart Breaker." Eldridge said that "it the defendant who broke Daunte Wright's heart" when she fired a bullet into his chest. Eldridge also talked about Wright's close relationship with his mother, his love of basketball and his plans to go to trade school to pursue a career.

"He had a new baby boy, a loving family and his whole adult life ahead of him," Eldridge said. "There is no do-over when you take a young man's life."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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