Breaking News: Ex-officer charged with manslaughter in killing of Daunte Wright

Published on Apr 14, 2021
A former police officer who authorities say shot and killed a Black man in a Minneapolis suburb after a traffic stop has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter is charged in Sunday's shooting death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said.
In Minnesota, second-degree manslaughter applies when authorities allege a person causes someone's death by "culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another."
Someone convicted of this charge would face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $20,000.
Wright's death Sunday in Brooklyn Center, which then-Police Chief Tim Gannon said appeared to be the result of Potter mistaking her gun for her Taser as Wright resisted arrest, has roiled a metropolitan area scarred by other police-involved deaths and reignited national conversations about policing and use of force.