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This image provided by the Minnesota Department of Corrections shows Kim Potter. The former Brooklyn Center police officer is scheduled to be released from prison on Monday.
Minnesota Department of Corrections via AP
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Minnesota Department of Corrections via AP
This image provided by the Minnesota Department of Corrections shows Kim Potter. The former Brooklyn Center police officer is scheduled to be released from prison on Monday.
Minnesota Department of Corrections via AP
MINNEAPOLIS — A white ex-police officer convicted of manslaughter after he shot and killed black driver Dante Wright in a Minneapolis suburb in 2021 when he mistook a handgun for a Taser is set to be released from prison on Monday. is.
Minnesota Department of Corrections spokesman Andy Skogman announced Friday that former police officer Kim Potter will be released after serving nearly 16 months of his two-year sentence. The exact time of departure from Shakopee will not be disclosed for security reasons, he said.
“Our criminal investigative analysts are working closely with law enforcement to monitor the situation and, like all inmates, ensure that Kim Potter is safe when she leaves our facility. ‘,” Skogman said in a statement.
The shooting occurred in April 2021 as Derek Chauvin was on trial in Minneapolis for the murder of George Floyd. Wright’s death sparked several days of protests.
Judge Regina Chu said in Potter’s sentencing that she would have to serve two-thirds of the sentence (16 months) and spend the rest on probation.
Potter, now 50, looks much leaner in new photos released by the Department of Corrections. Her attorney, Earl Gray, said she had “no idea” why her appearance had changed.
“It just goes to show that times are tough,” Gray said.
Messages left for the Wright family’s attorney, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, were not immediately returned.
Wright, the father of 20, was killed on April 11, 2021 after Brooklyn Center cops stopped him for having an expired license tag and air fresheners hanging from his rearview mirror. I was. Officers discovered he had a warrant for misdemeanor weapon possession charges and was shot during the struggle as officers tried to arrest him.
Civil rights advocates say laws banning things from hanging in rear-view mirrors have been used as an excuse to stop black people from driving.
In the video, Potter can be heard yelling “Taser” several times just before Wright fires his pistol in an attempt to drive away from the stop.
The state attorney general’s office was seeking a prison sentence of just over seven years, which state guidelines recommend. Wright’s family and Crump accused the two-year sentence of being too lenient and accused the judge of being more considerate of white officers than black victims.
Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, said after the sentencing that Potter “murdered my son,” adding, “Today the justice system murdered him again.”
Chu said at the time that the case was not the same as other high-profile murders, including the death of George Floyd, who sentenced Chauvin to 22 and a half years. I’m a cop,” she said.
At the sentencing hearing, defense attorneys argued that Potter deserved leniency because Wright was trying to get rid of him and Potter had the right to defend himself.
Potter, who has been a police officer for 26 years, apologized to Wright’s family during his sentencing and spoke directly to his mother: “Katie, I understand your mother’s love. I’m sorry for breaking your heart… my ‘s heart is broken and devastated for all…yours.”
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