A member of the jury for the trial of former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter says they believed the cop “made a mistake” when she fatally shot Daunte Wright.
In an anonymous interview with with KARE-TV, the juror said that while they ultimately convicted Potter of manslaughter they do not feel as though she’s a racist. In April 2021, Potter fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. Shortly after his death, there were protests in response as Potter alleged she intended to reach for her Taser but grabbed her firearm by mistake.
“I don’t want to speak for all the jurors, but I think we believed she was a good person and even believed she was a good cop,” the juror told KARE-TV's Lou Raguse. “No one felt she was intentional in this. It’s ludicrous that some people are assuming we thought she was a racist. That never came up or anything like that. We felt like she was a good person, we felt she made a mistake, and that a mistake does not absolve you from the fact she did commit a crime.”
The juror said they firmly believe the jury did not feel as Potter “wanted to kill anybody that day” and that “this was just a tragedy all the way around.” Potter resigned from the Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis Police Department two days after the shooting, and during the trial she apologized for her actions and described the traffic stop as “chaotic.”
On Dec. 23, Potter was found guilty of both charges against her—first-degree and second-degree manslaughter—in the death of Wright, and is now facing up to 15 years in prison. She is set to be sentenced in February 2022 and is being held without bail.
