Trial of Kim Potter Begins With Jury Selection

Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice

Potter is charged with first and second-degree manslaughter after she shot Daunte Wright on April 11 during a traffic stop. Wright’s family and community leaders held a press conference Monday afternoon to demand Potter be held accountable.

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Georgia Fort reports:

Jury selection for former Brooklyn Center Police officer Kimberly Potter begins today. Potter is charged with the death of Daunte Wright.

Wright’s family and community leaders held a press conference Monday afternoon to demand Potter be held accountable.

“We all thought it was important to be here today,” said the Wright family’s attorney Jeff Storms, “because of the history of this state of not holding officers accountable.”

Potter is charged with first and second degree manslaughter after she shot Daunte Wright on April 11 during a traffic stop. Potter told officials she had mistaken her gun for her taser. Her attorneys are expected to argue that it was an accident.

“Kim Potter was seen as a senior officer who trained officers and cadets who claimed she’d mistaken a gun for a taser,” said George Floyd’s girlfriend, Courteney Ross. “We are in Minnesota and we will not continue to let these racist cops walk the street. We will send them to prison as we did Derek Chauvin.”

Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, was also at the protest. She called out flaws in the State’s judicial system that contributed to the officer who fatally shot her son being found not guilty. She said she hopes that Potter’s trial will be different.

“We really want this jury to use their independent thinking and look at the laws. The laws are flawed,” said Castile.

Testimony in the Kim Potter trial is expected to begin December 8.