Former Minnesota cop Kim Potter was released from prison Monday after serving 16 months of a two-year sentence for fatally shooting Daunte Wright during a 2021 traffic stop.
Potter, 50, walked out of the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee around 4 a.m. “out of an abundance of caution” for her safety, department officials said, without elaborating.
The white woman had opened fire on the 20-year-old black man during a traffic stop in suburban Brooklyn Center in April 2021 during the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former cop who was convicted of murdering George Floyd in nearby Minneapolis a year earlier. The deadly shooting led to a new round of nationwide protests against police brutality and racism.
Wright was behind the wheel when he and his girlfriend were pulled over for expired license tags and an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror — a minor offense that civil rights activists claim cops have used as a pretext to stop motorists of color.
The unarmed man tried to drive away from arresting officers amid a physical struggle after they discovered there was a warrant out for him for a misdemeanor weapons possession charge and he was the subject of a protective order filed on behalf of an unidentified woman.
Potter shot him in the chest as he tried to flee and said she had confused her gun with her Taser. Bodycam video showed her repeatedly yelling, “Taser.”
Potter on the stand at her manslaughter trial. AP
The deadly encounter was captured on bodycam footage, and sparked nationwide protests amid a national reckoning with police brutality against black suspects. Minnesota Police Department/AFPThe 26-year police veteran was convicted of second-degree manslaughter. She is set to serve the last third of her two-year sentence under supervised release — a customary practice for convicts in the state, officials said.
State prosecutors had sought a seven-year sentence, and the lighter penalty was slammed by civil rights advocates and Wright’s mother, Kate Wright, who said at the time that “the justice system murdered [Daunte] all over again.”
Potter, who looked noticeably thinner in a new photo released last week by the Department of Corrections, apologized directly to Daunte’s grieving mom at her sentencing last year.
Potter, looking noticeably thinner in a recent prison photo, was set free following undisclosed concerns for her safety, officials said. Minnesota Department of Corrections
Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old father, was shot dead by Potter as he tried to flee a 2021 traffic stop. Family handout“Katie, I understand a mother’s love. I’m sorry I broke your heart … my heart is broken and devastated for all of you,” she said.
With Post wires
