Former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, charged with manslaughter over the Daunte Wright killing, has been released from jail on bail.
Potter, a 26-year veteran of the force who headed the local police union, was charged on Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop on April 11 in Brooklyn Center.
According to jail records, the 48-year-old was released from a Hennepin County jail just before 5:40 p.m. CT Wednesday after posting a $100,000 bond.
Potter is expected to make her first court appearance on Thursday, April 15. It’s unclear whether Potter will appear virtually or in person before the Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis.
“With that responsibility comes a great deal of discretion and accountability. We will vigorously prosecute this case and intend to prove that Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her taser,” Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief, said.
“Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright, and she must be held accountable.”
According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, died of a gunshot wound to the chest, which classified the manner of death as a homicide.
He was shot and killed during a traffic stop just before 2 p.m. on Sunday in Brooklyn Center after officer Potter said she mistook her taser for a gun and fired him. He died about 10 miles from where George Floyd, another black man, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer last year.
Potter and Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon resigned from their positions on Tuesday in the wake of Wright’s death.
The charge’s maximum sentence is a 10-year jail sentence and a $20,000 fine, Minnesota statutes state.
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