Ex-Minnesota cop Kim Potter makes first court appearance in manslaughter charge of Black motorist Daunte Wright

The former Minnesota cop accused of killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop Sunday spent just four minutes in front of a judge during her first court appearance Thursday.

A lawyer for Kim Potter waived the reading of the complaint, quickly ending the virtual hearing.

Potter, a 48-year-old white woman, was charged with second-degree manslaughter Wednesday and released on bail. She’s due back in court May 17 in a case that has sparked several days of nationwide demonstrations against police brutality.

“Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer,” Imran Ali of the Washington County attorney’s office said in a statement announcing the charge.

“With that responsibility comes a great deal of discretion and accountability. We will vigorously prosecute this case and intend to prove that Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her Taser. Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright, and she must be held accountable.”

Potter, a 26-year veteran of Minnesota’s Brooklyn Center Police Department and former union president, and Officer Anthony Luckey pulled Wright over just outside of Minneapolis Sunday afternoon, then tried to arrest him for an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge, according to the criminal complaint.

Wright pulled away and tried to get back into his car, at which point Potter pulled out her gun and fired once, hitting him.

“Taser, Taser, Taser,” she shouted several times, then exclaimed “S–t, I just shot him!” after firing, according to body-cam footage.

Wright’s car sped away a short distance, then crashed. He was pronounced dead at the scene and the Hennepin County medical examiner ruled his death a homicide from a gunshot wound.

Potter claimed she thought she had pulled out her Taser, not her firearm, then-Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said Monday.

Gannon and Potter resigned from the police force the next day.

An investigator with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirmed Potter’s gun and Taser were holstered on different sides of her body — and that the Taser could only have been pulled out with her left hand due to its placement, according to the criminal complaint.

In Minnesota, a second-degree manslaughter conviction carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $20,000 fine.

“The last few days, everybody has asked me what we want. What do we want to see happen? And everybody keeps saying justice. But unfortunately, there’s never going to be justice for us,” his mother, Katie Wright, said at a press conference Thursday before Potter’s hearing.

“Justice isn’t even a word to me. I do want accountability, 100% accountability.”