A prosecutor told jurors that the former police officer who fatally shot black man Daunte Wright while yelling ‘Taser’ acted recklessly, disregarding over 20 years of training, and that she did not have ‘a license to kill’.
Prosecutor Erin Eldridge during closing arguments in Kim Potter’s manslaughter trial on Monday said that the former Brooklyn Center police officer was a ‘highly trained’ and experienced 26-year veteran who acted recklessly.
‘Just because she didn’t kill people for the first 25 years of her career does not mean that no crime occurred on April 11,’ Eldridge said.
Potter, 49, broke down on the witness stand Friday while recounting the ‘chaotic’ moment she shot the 20-year-old Wright during a traffic stop in April in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center.
‘I didn’t want to hurt anybody,’ said Potter, who is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter.
Potter was not justified in using her gun or Taser on Wright after he pulled away from her and other officers as they were trying to arrest him on an outstanding weapons possession warrant, Eldridge said.
‘Carrying a badge and a gun is not a license to kill,’ Eldridge added.
Potter’s attorney Earl Gray later argued that Wright ’caused the whole incident’ because he was trying to flee from police during a traffic stop.
‘Daunte Wright caused his own death, unfortunately,’ Gray said, adding that the ex-cop did have the right to use deadly force in the situation, but that shouldn’t matter because she didn’t realize she was holding her gun.
Potter has pleaded not guilty to first- and second-degree manslaughter charges, which carry maximum sentences of 15 and 10 years respectively, saying she thought she was drawing her Taser when she shot Wright with her 9mm handgun. She claims her assertion is supported by video of her post-shooting reactions.
The former cop can be heard in the footage shouting, just moments after the shooting, that she ‘grabbed the wrong gun’ and ‘killed a boy’.
Having conceded that Potter made a mistake, the state has to prove that she acted recklessly in violation of the law.
The mostly white jury will begin deliberating after Potter’s lawyers present their closing arguments, which began on Monday.
Over six days of testimony, prosecutors called witnesses and played dozens of videos trying to prove their argument that Potter, a veteran police officer, acted recklessly and caused Wright’s death through ‘culpable negligence’.
Potter’s attorneys argued that she made a mistake but also would have been justified in using deadly force if she had meant to, because they say one of the other officers was at risk of being dragged by Wright’s car.
Potter testified that she had no training on ‘weapons confusion’, saying it was something mentioned in training but not something they were physically trained on.
The former cop, who quit two days after the shooting, also said she never used her Taser while on duty during her 26 years on the force. She was arrested the next day.
Judge Regina Chu told jurors that she will not make them deliberate on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. They’ll return after the holiday if they haven’t reached a verdict by then.
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