The former Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright was released from prison on Monday after serving 16 months of her two-year sentence.
Kim Potter was sentenced to two years in prison in February 2022 after she shot and killed Wright, 20, in 2021. She had faced a 25-year sentence and a $50,000 fine if given the maximum penalty for two manslaughter charges. Potter was released from jail at 4 a.m. on Monday from the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee, with the early hour chosen over safety concerns and possible violent protests outside the prison over her release.
FAMILY OF DAUNTE WRIGHT REACHES $3.25M SETTLEMENT OVER DEADLY TRAFFIC STOP
Potter shot and killed Wright during a traffic stop on April 11, 2021, after she pulled him over for an expired registration tag on his vehicle. She determined that there was an outstanding warrant for Wright’s arrest, and officers allegedly smelled marijuana in the car. Officers had attempted to arrest Wright, and when he attempted to flee, Potter had mistakenly pulled out her handgun instead of her Taser and shot him.
However, Judge Regina Chu had opted for the lighter sentence, saying Potter’s decision was a “mistake that ended tragically” during sentencing. Potter had been found guilty in December 2021 after four days of jury deliberation.
Potter will serve the remaining third of her sentence under supervised release, much to the dismay of Wright’s family. Wright’s mother, Katie, told CNN that she was “dreading” Potter’s release and struggling to find peace.
“Some say I should forgive to be at peace but how can I? I am so angry. She is going to be able to watch her kids have kids and be able to touch them,” Katie Wright said. “I am always scared I am going to forget my son’s voice. It gave us some sense of peace knowing she would not be able to hold her sons. She has two. I can’t hold my son.”
However, Potter will no longer be able to serve as a police officer, which Katie Wright said has given her a “sense of peace.”
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“She will never be able to hurt anybody as a police officer again,” Katie Wright said. “That is the only sense of peace we get as a family.”
The Wright family received $3.25 million in June 2022 in a settlement with the city of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, in connection to the shooting. The city agreed it would implement policy changes regarding traffic stop training for officers. It was the third-largest settlement for a civil rights wrongful death case in Minnesota history.
