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Former Minnesota police Officer Kim Potter was hit with 16 months behind bars for killing Daunte Wright after mistaking her service firearm for a stun gun during a traffic stop in April 2021. The punishment was significantly below the state-recommended minimum.
Judge Regina Chu handed down the sentence in a Minneapolis courtroom over the objection of prosecutors after Potter apologized to the victim's family. The former Brooklyn Center officer will serve 16 months in prison followed by eight months of supervised release.
"To the family of Daunte Wright, I am so sorry that I brought the death of your son, father, brother, uncle, grandson, nephew," said Potter, 49, sobbing, as she turned to address the slain man's mother directly. "Katie, I understand a mother’s love, and I am sorry I broke your heart. My heart is broken for all of you."
Former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter reacts as Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu reads the verdict on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
The judge said Potter honorably served her community for 26 years and hundreds of letters "painted a portrait of a woman who touched a lot of people in a good way."
"She never intended to hurt anyone. Her conduct cries out for a sentence significantly below the guidelines."
Chu told the courtroom that Potter was clearly remorseful. "She showed that today, she showed that when it happened," the judge said, fighting back tears. "She never intended to hurt anyone. Her conduct cries out for a sentence significantly below the guidelines."
The sentencing range on first-degree manslaughter is slightly more than six years to about 8 ½ from which a judge can depart if there are mitigating or aggravating circumstances.
Potter was attempting to arrest Wright on an open warrant April 11, 2021, for failure to appear on a weapons charge when she drew her gun instead of her stun gun during an arrest in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis.
She was trying to protect a fellow officer on the other side of the car, who could have been dragged and seriously injured when Wright tried to drive off, Chu said.
Daunte Wright and his son, Daunte Wright Jr., at his first birthday party. (Ben Crump Law, PLLC. via AP)
"This is not a cop found guilty of murder for using his knee to pin down a person for 9½ minutes as he gasped for air," said the judge, comparing the case to that of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted in the same courthouse last April of murdering George Floyd in May 2020. "This is a cop who made a tragic mistake."
Potter was convicted by a jury in December of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter for the killing of Wright. Under Minnesota law, a defendant is sentenced only on the top charge.
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Prosecutors pushed for the judge to impose the presumptive sentence of just over seven years in prison, while her defense lawyers argued for a probation-only punishment calling her actions an "innocent mistake" and Wright "the aggressor."
Potter, a mother of two boys, has been in custody since she was found guilty.
During emotional statements before the sentencing was handed down, Wright's family members questioned whether Potter was remorseful and urged the judge to impose the maximum sentence.
"April 11 was the worst day of my life," said Wright's mom, Katie Wright, as she wiped away tears. "A police officer, who is supposed to serve and protect, took so much away from us. She took our baby boy away from us with a single gun shot to his heart and shattered mine."
Left: Bodycam video shows Brooklyn Center police attempting to arrest Daunte Wright on April 11, 2021. Right: Daunte Wright recorded himself playing with a handgun in a woman's bathroom in December 2019 shortly before an alleged armed robbery attempt. (Brooklyn Center Police Department/Osseo Police Department)
Wright's father, Aubrey Wright, called his son his "reason to do better."
The slain man's younger sister, Diamond Wright, said he had a smile "that could light up a whole stadium" and called his killing "murder."
"One hint of Blackness in our skin makes us a target," she said.
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Chyna Whitaker, mother of Wright's only child, cried as she described how their son, Daunte Wright Jr., was born premature, and they feared he wouldn't survive.
"I am now a single mother not by choice but by force," she said. "He is now 2 years old and, since April 11, 2021, fatherless."
The deadly police confrontation with Wright unfolded after he was pulled over for expired license tags in Brooklyn Center – about 15 miles from where Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis.
Potter, a 26-year veteran with a spotless record, can be seen in body camera footage shouting, "I'll tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!" before firing a single round. "I grabbed the wrong f----ing gun," she can be heard saying before collapsing on the curb.
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The shooting by a White cop of a Black man sparked widespread demonstrations marked by clashes between protesters and police and came in the midst of Chauvin's trial for Floyd's murder.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
