Orange is the new blue today thanks to former Brooklyn Center Police officer Kimberly Ann Potter being arrested and charged with second degree manslaughter for what she claims to be the accidental shooting of Daunte Wright. You can see the body camera video of that shooting as well as our previous coverage at https://copblaster.com/blast/35495/daunte-wrights-killer-identified-as-bcpd-officer-kim-potter where we mentioned that Kim Potter is a 48 year old resident of Champlin, she was a BCPD officer for 26 years, was the president of the Brooklyn Center Police Officers Association, and our background check resulted in a voting record showing that she registered as a Republican in 2013. In this article will will recap what she did, why she is charged with manslaughter, and what she should be charged with murder.
Kimberly Potter pulled over Daunte Wright and in the course of that encounter discovered he had an outstanding warrant. Wright fled to his vehicle and was shot as he fled. Officer Potter's body camera showed that she pulled her gun, yelled "taser taser taser," and shot him before acting surprised that she shot him. Former Chief Tim Gannon called the shooting an accident because he thought that she had mistaken her gun for a taser.
Potter is now charged with second degree manslaughter. Under Minnesota law (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.205) that means she is accused of negligently causing the death of Daunte Wright. That negligence being her failing to notice the difference between a taser and a gun.
We believe that she is under charged because had a civilian tried to get away with shooting someone by claiming to have mistaken their gun for a taser, they would have been arrested for murder right away. We do not see how a sober 26 year veteran cop could mistake one for the other. We are not sure if she had to take a drug test, but absent proof of her being intoxicated we can think of no excuse for such confusion. This arrest sends a dangerous message that officers can now kill people and avoid being charged with murder simply by yelling "taser!"
According to the media, Officer Potter has posted bail and is now a free woman.
NOTE: We are including the full voting record with address in our image on this page because people were quick to attack us as not being credible when first calling her a Republican. Please do not use that address for any unlawful purpose.
UPDATE: We found Kim Potter's booking records online at the Hennepin County Jail website. We saved them as a PDF and uploaded it. Look for the PDF icon above this article. You can see that the address matches the one provided by our background check service in connection with a Republican voting registration.