Prosecutors rested their case against former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter on Thursday after six days of testimony ranging from relevant explanations of policy to emotionally gripping testimony of victim Daunte Wright's character and how it felt to watch him take some of his last breaths. Tim Gannon, the former Brooklyn Center police chief, testified for the defense that Potter was a fine officer. “There’s certain things within the department that you get known for. Are you handling your calls? Are you professional when you talk with people? Are you doing good police reports?” Gannon said. “She was known for doing all of those things.”
Potter was charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter after she shot Wright on Apr. 11, 2021. At the time, she was a Brooklyn Center police officer. She has claimed she was reaching for her Taser when she accidentally grabbed her gun instead. Wright had been pulled over in a traffic stop for expired license plate tags and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror.
Gannon testified that he was promoted to chief in 2015 and he served in the role until April because he refused to immediately fire Potter. She later resigned the position when Gannon was still chief.
When asked if he saw any danger that would have justified deadly use of force after viewing Potter's body-camera footage from the shooting, Gannon testified that he did see "some danger on the driver's side" but he didn't see the situation involving Potter's former supervisor Sgt. Mychal Johnson.
He testified on Friday that officer trainee Anthony Luckey, who had stopped Wright and learned he had an active misdemeanor warrant, was trying to arrest Wright when Johnson saw Luckey in a struggle with Wright. Johnson said he opened Wright's passenger door in an attempt to prevent Wright from driving off and held his arm, thinking Luckey or Potter would cuff Wright's other arm. Instead, Johnson heard someone say, “Taser, Taser,” and dropped Wright’s arm to avoid the Taser’s probes, the sergeant testified. But Potter never used her Taser.
Use-of-force expert Seth Stoughton testified on Wednesday for the prosecution that Potter's actions constituted an unreasonable use of force. “The use of deadly force was not appropriate and the evidence suggests a reasonable officer in Officer Potter’s position could not have believed it was proportional to the threat at the time,” Stoughton said in testimony covered by the Associated Press. Stoughton, a University of South Carolina law professor, also testified for the prosecution in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He was found guilty of murdering George Floyd by kneeling on the Black father’s neck for more than nine minutes.
The case has brought national attention to police brutality in America, and activists have urged lawmakers to pass legislation to gut the system enabling such brutality. While the Department of Justice wrote policies banning "chokeholds" and "carotid restraints" back in September, no such federal legislation was accomplished, with policing unions and GOP apologists driving legislator negotiations to a stalemate.
Even a database on police use-of-force incidents, which the FBI launched in 2019, faces a risk of being discontinued due to police and federal agencies deciding not to send their data to the FBI, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. "Due to insufficient participation from law enforcement agencies," the Government Accountability Office wrote, "the FBI faces risks that it may not meet the participation thresholds" established by the Office of Management and Budget, "and therefore may never publish use of force incident data."
In many ways, Wright’s death—which occurred during Chauvin’s murder trial in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, about 10 miles north of the Hennepin County Courthouse where Chauvin was convicted—was a painful reminder of why such a database is needed and just how frequently Black people are killed or otherwise brutalized by police.
Arbuey Wright, Daunte Wright's father, testified on Wednesday that his son was a regular, joking big brother to two younger sisters and a joy-filled father. “He was so happy about junior,” Wright said. “It just was my chance to be a grandfather. He loved his son.”
Katie Bryant, Daunte's mother, described for jurors how when she arrived to the scene of her son's shooting, she prayed the person laying on the ground wasn't him. “I was biting the insides of my cheeks,” she said. “I still have scars on the insides of my cheeks, cuz I thought it was a dream, and if I bit the insides of my cheeks that I would wake up, but I didn’t wake up …”
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Potter was charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter after she shot Wright on Apr. 11, 2021. At the time, she was a Brooklyn Center police officer. She has claimed she was reaching for her Taser when she accidentally grabbed her gun instead. Wright had been pulled over in a traffic stop for expired license plate tags and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror.
Gannon testified that he was promoted to chief in 2015 and he served in the role until April because he refused to immediately fire Potter. She later resigned the position when Gannon was still chief.
When asked if he saw any danger that would have justified deadly use of force after viewing Potter's body-camera footage from the shooting, Gannon testified that he did see "some danger on the driver's side" but he didn't see the situation involving Potter's former supervisor Sgt. Mychal Johnson.
He testified on Friday that officer trainee Anthony Luckey, who had stopped Wright and learned he had an active misdemeanor warrant, was trying to arrest Wright when Johnson saw Luckey in a struggle with Wright. Johnson said he opened Wright's passenger door in an attempt to prevent Wright from driving off and held his arm, thinking Luckey or Potter would cuff Wright's other arm. Instead, Johnson heard someone say, “Taser, Taser,” and dropped Wright’s arm to avoid the Taser’s probes, the sergeant testified. But Potter never used her Taser.
Use-of-force expert Seth Stoughton testified on Wednesday for the prosecution that Potter's actions constituted an unreasonable use of force. “The use of deadly force was not appropriate and the evidence suggests a reasonable officer in Officer Potter’s position could not have believed it was proportional to the threat at the time,” Stoughton said in testimony covered by the Associated Press. Stoughton, a University of South Carolina law professor, also testified for the prosecution in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He was found guilty of murdering George Floyd by kneeling on the Black father’s neck for more than nine minutes.
The case has brought national attention to police brutality in America, and activists have urged lawmakers to pass legislation to gut the system enabling such brutality. While the Department of Justice wrote policies banning "chokeholds" and "carotid restraints" back in September, no such federal legislation was accomplished, with policing unions and GOP apologists driving legislator negotiations to a stalemate.
Even a database on police use-of-force incidents, which the FBI launched in 2019, faces a risk of being discontinued due to police and federal agencies deciding not to send their data to the FBI, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. "Due to insufficient participation from law enforcement agencies," the Government Accountability Office wrote, "the FBI faces risks that it may not meet the participation thresholds" established by the Office of Management and Budget, "and therefore may never publish use of force incident data."
In many ways, Wright’s death—which occurred during Chauvin’s murder trial in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, about 10 miles north of the Hennepin County Courthouse where Chauvin was convicted—was a painful reminder of why such a database is needed and just how frequently Black people are killed or otherwise brutalized by police.
Arbuey Wright, Daunte Wright's father, testified on Wednesday that his son was a regular, joking big brother to two younger sisters and a joy-filled father. “He was so happy about junior,” Wright said. “It just was my chance to be a grandfather. He loved his son.”
THUR DEC 16 The state will rest today. #KimPotterTrial Arbuey Wright, talking about his son. “I loved Daunte. He was loved.” #DaunteWrightpic.twitter.com/ROM0mnWuP9
— Serene ? (@MythSerene) December 16, 2021
Katie Bryant, Daunte's mother, described for jurors how when she arrived to the scene of her son's shooting, she prayed the person laying on the ground wasn't him. “I was biting the insides of my cheeks,” she said. “I still have scars on the insides of my cheeks, cuz I thought it was a dream, and if I bit the insides of my cheeks that I would wake up, but I didn’t wake up …”
RELATED: 'I was trying to help him': Girlfriend of Black man killed by cop gives heartbreaking testimony
RELATED: Trial continues for cop who claims she grabbed gun instead of Taser to shoot Daunte Wright