Former Police Officer Kim Potter was found guilty today of killing Daunte Wright today and as a retired LEO, I agree with the verdict.
Regardless of Wright’s life choices and his past behavior, Kim Potter should have never worn a badge. She drew her sidearm somehow thinking it was a department issued Taser and she killed Daunte Wright with it.
She was trusted with public safety, she was supposedly properly trained. She “enjoyed” the status, trust and honor of the badge that so many that came before her earned and worked hard to maintain and she screwed up royally.
She deserves to be in prison. She deserves the verdict handed down.
This is the American Justice system. No one is above the law.
Meh. I didn’t follow this too closely, but think that it is a shame. Sadly, she was going down no matter what in this climate. When is the sentencing?
I still think we’d be better off if we went after bad guys first, then good guys once we were done. Sure some folks get away with things, but that is life. I don’t see it different for anyone.
If you or someone that you loved or cared about were supposed to be tased and instead, were shot dead, how would you feel? The Taser is carried weak side, the firearm strong side. She panicked due to lack of experience on the street. She drew lethal force instead of less lethal and she killed someone without just cause.
I worked in her profession. Kim Potter was one of the bad guys in my opinion. She tarnished the badge and the reputation.
Under Minnesota law, defendants are sentenced only on the most serious conviction if multiple counts involve the same act and the same victim. Prosecutors had said they would seek to prove aggravating factors that merit what’s called an upward departure from sentencing guidelines. In Potter’s case, they alleged that her actions were a danger to others, including her fellow officers, to Wright’s passenger and to the couple whose car was struck by Wright’s after the shooting. They also alleged she abused her authority as a police officer.
The maximum for 1st-degree manslaughter is 15 years.
For first-degree manslaughter, prosecutors had to prove that Potter caused Wright’s death while committing a misdemeanor — in this case, the “reckless handling or use of a firearm so as to endanger the safety of another with such force and violence that death or great bodily harm to any person was reasonably foreseeable.”
The second-degree manslaughter charge required prosecutors to prove that Potter caused Wright’s death “by her culpable negligence,” meaning she “caused an unreasonable risk and consciously took a chance of causing death or great bodily harm” to Wright while using or possessing a firearm.
And I agree with you completely on that point. But ask yourself what chance you would have if you pulled a firearm and used lethal force when only less than lethal force was warranted.
Sadly, the only reasonable outcome. One person dead (sad), one person’s life ruined (also sad). This just sucks all around. But it’s a reasonable verdict.
I believe that is . Pick one to charge. No fall back plans if it prosecuted. Let’s throw it all on the wall and use what stick. Incompetent prosecutors. Do your job investigate.
What I find interesting is that she grabbed the wrong tool and killed someone. A true accident. Whereas Baldwin deliberately pulled the trigger and killed someone and is out free as a bird. Maybe we can’t compare the two that much, but it seems that there are some privileged people in our society who can do no wrong.
I think that verdict is correct. I don’t think she should serve the maximum sentence, on the other hand.
We(this forum) have had multiple discussions about backing the blue. Something we need to remember, is that LEO are CIVILIANS. They are regular men and women, who are paid to uphold, and enforce the law. They are not above it. Yes, officers have a level of training. How many of us have the same level, or even more. All the training in the world, cannot fully prepare someone for a bad situation. She is a human, and humans make mistakes. In her case, in this instance, not knowing which hand she just used to draw, and exactly what was in that hand. And a man died because of it, and one of her fellow officers was in danger.
Yes, he shouldn’t have been trying to run. I’ll even argue that tasing him would have been dangerous. What if he had gotten the car in gear, and then got tased? You would then have a person who has temporarily lost muscular control, at the wheel of a 2 ton battering ram.
Understand that this was a, ah, mistake, tragedy, or whatever the word is. Yes she killed a man. Yes she needs a consequence. But, but… The law, the victim, and the actions leading to this manslaughter. He was not a “good boy”. Consider the following,
Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a police officer may use deadly force to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect only if the officer has a good-faith belief that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.
It is a sad situation. She messed up, someone died. I don’t think she killed him on purpose, poor training, poor candidate for LEO, I don’t know. But, we are responsible for every round we shoot, so she should be as well.
. Pick one to charge. No fall back plans if it prosecuted. Let’s throw it all on the wall and use what stick. Incompetent prosecutors. Do your job investigate.
