A former police officer yesterday faced her first court appearance in a traffic-stop shooting of a man that has prompted four straight days of bitter conflict between protesters and police in a small suburb Minneapolis.
Kim Potter, who quit her job on the Brooklyn Center force two days after Daunte Wright’s death, was charged on Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter in what her chief said appeared to be a case of her confusing her Taser with her handgun.
Many protesters and Wright’s family members have rejected that, saying either that they do not believe it, or that the incident reflects bias in policing.
Photo: AFP
Wright, a 26-year veteran, was training another officer at the time of the stop.
She was arrested on Tuesday and later freed after posting a US$100,000 bond.
“Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer,” Washington County assistant criminal division chief Imran Ali said in a statement announcing the charge against Potter.
Her “action caused the unlawful killing of Mr Wright and she must be held accountable,” Ali said.
Brooklyn Center on Wednesday had a 10pm curfew, the fourth night in a row that the city has taken that action.
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott urged people to protest without violence, saying: “Your voices have been heard.”
However, demonstrators clashed with police stationed behind a chain-link fence protecting the city’s police station.
Several hundred people filled the street in front of the station, despite a mix of snow and rain, chanting: “Say his name. Daunte Wright.”
With an hour before curfew, police declared the protest and unlawful assembly and ordered people to disperse, citing objects being thrown at officers and attempts to dismantle the fence.
Shortly before the dispersal order, some protesters threw objects at police, who responded with gas canisters.
Some officers sprayed protesters who came near the fence surrounding the heavily guarded station.
Protesters near the fence formed a wall with umbrellas.
Outside Potter’s home in Champlin, north of Brooklyn Center, concrete barricades and tall metal fencing had been set up, and police vehicles were in the driveway.
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