Former Minnesota police officer, Kimberly Potter was found guilty of the killing of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop back in April of 2021. Wright was an unarmed black man who was pulled over by Potter and a rookie police officer during a traffic stop, for having expired license tags. The officers decided to take him into custody for an arrest warrant, in which he failed to appear in court for a weapons charge. Wright tried to wriggle out of the cuffs in which Potter yelled, “Taser, taser, taser!” and pulled out her handgun and shot Wright once on the side.

After the incident, Potter was placed on administrative leave and subsequently resigned from her position two days after. Minnesota Police Chief, Timothy Gannon resigned along with her shortly after.  One day later and after civil unrest and protests, Potter was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter.

During the trial, the defense’s main argument hinged on the idea that Kimberly Potter simply made a mistake. They brought up Potter’s peers, colleagues, supervisors, and friends, to testify and argue that she was a “fine officer” and overall good person. Gannon also appeared to argue that he was forcefully pushed out of his job for not immediately firing Potter. He argued that he “saw no violation … of policy, procedure or law,” after reviewing the footage for himself, hours after the incident.

When asked about her opinion on the matter, Hills senior Jay Ferreira said, “If we are ever going to get to the point where we can call our society truly equal we must follow the same rules for all people.” However, she does expand on this by saying, “She must face a punishment for what she is responsible for, but taking the country’s anger out on her and over sentencing her would not be just to her.”

Prosecutors agreed that the shooting was an accident, but it proved that Potter acted improperly despite being on the police force for 26 years and undergoing strenuous exercises and training to differentiate the two weapons on her person.

The body camera footage that was soon released proved to be extremely important during Potter’s trial. Prosecutors used the footage along with expert testimonies from use-of-force experts and former colleagues of Potter’s who testified on the extensive and important training that is undergone to differentiate between a taser and a handgun.

Last month, use-of-force expert Gerald Takano explained that even if the taser had been used as opposed to the handgun, the circumstances of the altercation most likely did not constitute the use of the taser. He explained, “Person not complying and pulling away, wanted for a minor offense, Taser (is) probably not justified use of force to begin with.”

Potter was found guilty on December 23, 2021, of first and second-degree manslaughter, with the first charge carrying up to 25 years in prison and the second carrying another 15. However, it is more likely that Kimberly Potter will instead face about 8 years in prison. After the trial, Potter was taken back into custody and still awaits her sentencing date.