MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A white former police officer convicted of manslaughter after mistaking her gun for a taser and fatally shooting black motorist Daunte Wright in suburban Minneapolis in 2021 will be released from prison on Monday.
Minnesota Department of Corrections spokesman Andy Skoogman announced Friday that former officer Kim Potter would be released after serving about 16 months of her two-year sentence. He said the exact timing of her departure Monday from Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee will not be disclosed for security reasons.
“Our criminal investigation analysts are working closely with law enforcement to monitor the situation to ensure that Kim Potter, like all inmates, is safe when she leaves our facility,” Skoogman said in a statement.
Potter killed Wright after a traffic stop in April 2021. The shooting occurred as Derek Chauvin was on trial in Minneapolis on a murder charge in the murder of George Floyd. Wright’s death sparked several days of protests.
Judge Regina Chu had said at Potter’s sentencing that she would have to serve two-thirds of her sentence – 16 months – and spend the rest on probation.
Potter, now 50, appears much thinner in a new photo released by the Department of Corrections. Her attorney, Earl Grey, said he had “no idea” why her appearance changed.
“It just shows it’s a tough time,” Gray said. “I don’t know many police photos that show someone in a good light.”
A message left with civil rights attorney Ben Crump, the lawyer for the Wright family, was not immediately returned.
Wright, a 20-year-old father, was killed on April 11, 2021 after officers at the Brooklyn Center apprehended him for having expired license plates and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. Civil rights advocates say laws against hanging objects from rear-view mirrors have been used as a pretext to stop black motorists.
Potter can be heard on video yelling “Taser” several times just before firing her gun as Wright attempted to drive away from the traffic stop.
The attorney general’s office had called for a sentence recommended by state guidelines of just over seven years in prison. Wright and Crump’s family denounced the two-year sentence as too lenient and accused the judge of giving more consideration to the white officer than to the black victim.
Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, said after sentencing that Potter “killed my son,” adding, “Today the justice system killed him again.”
At the time, Chu said the case was not like other high-profile murders, including the death of George Floyd that resulted in a 22 1/2 year prison sentence for Chauvin. “This is an agent who made a tragic mistake,” she said.
Defense attorneys argued at the sentencing hearing that Potter deserved clemency because Wright tried to drive away and Potter had a right to defend himself.
Potter, a 26-year-old police veteran, apologized to Wright’s family at the sentencing and spoke directly to his mother: “Katie, I understand a mother’s love. I’m sorry for breaking your heart… my heart is broken and devastated for all of you.
