On April 11, 2021, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was stopped by police while driving in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to police Wright was wanted and it was decided to arrest him on the spot, but he is said to have opposed the arrest.
According to the 20-year-old’s mother, he called her directly when he understood that the police stopped him, writes the news agency AP.
The mother also says that the son had his girlfriend with him in the car. It all ended fatally. The man was shot by a police officer and was pronounced dead at the scene.
– Daunte Wright’s family hugs lawyer Ben Crump outside the Hennepin Country Government Center as the trial of former police officer Kim Potter begins. Photo: KEREM YUCEL / AFP
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Took the wrong weapon
It was 49-year-old police officer Kim Potter who killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright.
According to the police officer himself, it was all a tragic accident. Potter, who shot and killed the 20-year-old, says she thought she picked up an electroshock weapon and not a firearm.
The episode was filmed by a body camera that Potter was wearing during the incident. In the video, one can hear a desperate Potter.
– I shot him, I took the wrong gun! My God, Potter says in the video.
In the recording, you can see that the police officer sinks down on the curb and sits down after Wright’s car starts to roll.
Defense attorney Paul Engh believes that Potter’s immediate reaction strengthens their argument that the shooting episode was an accident.
– Policemen are people, Potter’s defense attorney said during the trial on Wednesday. The defense attorney seemed to blame Wright, saying all the 20-year-old should have done was surrender immediately.
Miracle tree i plays
Potter was training with a new police officer when they waved in the 20-year-old. Wright had expired signs on the car, and Wundebaum hanging from the mirror.
When they found out that Wright already had an arrest warrant on him, they tried to arrest him. Wright then sat back in the car instead of cooperating with the police.
– A poster of 20-year-old Daunte Wright who died after a police officer fired shots at him on April 11, 2021. The episode has aroused strong emotions and reactions, as this is one of many cases where white police officers fire shots at dark-skinned people. Photo: NICOLE NERI / REUTERS
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Potter’s body camera recorded her shouting “Taser, taser, taser” just before she fired a shot with the pistol she thought was an electroshock weapon.
Parts of the video were played during the trial on Wednesday, the news agency writes AP.
The other police officer who was present during the incident also gave a testimony during Wednesday’s trial. Officer Anthony Luckey, who was training when the incident happened, said he could smell marijuana from Wright’s car. He is also said to have seen marijuana remains lying on the car’s console.
Called the son
Daunte Wright’s mother, Katie Bryant, testified during Wednesday’s trial. During the testimony, she told of the moment when she saw her son lying in the car after he was shot.
The mother had spoken to her son just before the tragic incident occurred. When she contacted her son again through a video call, she heard that her son’s boyfriend shouted that someone had shot him. The girlfriend then pointed the phone at the driver’s seat, where Daunte Wright was lying.
– It was a weeping mother of the deceased 20-year-old who testified during the trial on Wednesday. Photo: AP
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– My son was lying there. He did not react and he looked dead, said a mother who cried in tears during the testimony on Wednesday.
Made a mistake
Potter’s defense attorney said his client made a mistake when she grabbed the wrong weapon and shot Wright after he tried to drive away from police officers who were trying to arrest him. Just before Potter fired the shot, the other police officer had partially gotten into Wright’s car, and according to Engh was in danger of being injured if the 20-year-old had started the car.
Engh believes that the police officers had every reason to believe that Wright was wearing a gun, when the other police officer, Anthony Luckey, discovered that Wright was wearing an arrest warrant due to a weapons charge.
“She had to do it to prevent the death of a fellow officer,” defense attorney Engh said during the trial.
– Betrayed his profession
On an earlier occasion, the prosecutor in the case, Erin Eldridge, said that Potter had underestimated the extensive training she had undergone to become a police officer – including the training on risks around firing the wrong weapon.
– This is exactly what she has been trained in for years. On April 11, she betrayed her profession, and failed Daunte Wright, Prosecutor said.
– We must be able to trust that they know the difference between right and left. This case is about a police officer who knew she was not going to make a mistake, but failed to do it right, the prosecutor continued.
Prosecutors say Potter had been trained in the use of electroshock weapons several times during his 26-year political career. The last benefit was six months before the tragic event occurred.
A jury of 14 people will hear the case.
Minnesota’s sentencing requires a prison sentence of just over seven years for first-degree murder and four years for second-degree murder. Prosecutors have said they will demand a longer sentence.
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