Second-degree manslaughter charges have been filed against Kim Potter, the Minnesota police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright after the officer claimed she mistook her handgun for her Taser. Potter was arrested at 12:30pm ET by agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, according to CNN. She was expected to be booked into the Hennepin County Jail on probable cause second-degree manslaughter.
JUST IN: Kim Potter, the police officer who authorities say fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, in a Minneapolis suburb has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, a prosecutor says. https://t.co/1wdoW7oKnD
— CNN (@CNN) April 14, 2021
The criminal charges against Potter come a day after the 26-year veteran abruptly resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department, along with the police chief. The shooting of Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, by a white officer, has touched off several days of heated protests in Brooklyn Center. Last night things got incredibly tense as Minnesota National Guard members and State Patrol troopers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and other projectiles at the crowd.
CIVIL UNREST: Minnesota State Patrol officers moved in and ordered protesters and news media in Brooklyn Center to leave. This marks another night of clashes after Duante Wright, 20 was shot dead by a police officer who claimed she mistook her taser for a gun. pic.twitter.com/oqlYlDRDi0
— Apex World News (@apexworldnews) April 14, 2021
Some of the demonstrators launched fireworks and threw rocks and bottles of water at the police. 79 people were arrested Tuesday night. Members of the media were also ordered to disperse by law enforcement or face arrest.
In my 25 years as a reporter I have NEVER heard police in America actually say “journalists will be arrested” during a protests. But that happened in #BrooklynCenter last night. We stayed. The citizens are why we stay. I took this moments aft the announcement #DaunteWright pic.twitter.com/rMU0fEyJKU
— Sara Sidner (@sarasidnerCNN) April 14, 2021
In my 25 years as a reporter I have NEVER heard police in America actually say “journalists will be arrested” during a protests. But that happened in #BrooklynCenter last night. We stayed. The citizens are why we stay. I took this moments aft the announcement #DaunteWright pic.twitter.com/rMU0fEyJKU
— Sara Sidner (@sarasidnerCNN) April 14, 2021