Kim Potter, the former American police officer guilty of manslaughter
Kim Potter, the former American police officer guilty of manslaughter - All rights reserved QP
Kim Potter, the former US police officer, who killed a young African-American driver during a traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis in April, was convicted of manslaughter on Thursday.
The 49-year-old former American police officer has always claimed to have believed she was drawing her electric Taser gun when she actually pulled out her service weapon and shot at Daunte Wright, 20, who was resisting arrest.
The jury found her guilty of manslaughter after three days of deliberations in a court in Minneapolis, where this drama had reopened the wounds of the murder of George Floyd.
The former policewoman, who pleaded "not guilty", did not react Thursday when the verdict was announced. She faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison in total and is expected to be determined in February.
What happened that night?
On April 11, 2021, the policewoman was on patrol with a colleague who had decided to check the driver of a car having committed a minor traffic violation. After realizing that he was the subject of an arrest warrant, they wanted to arrest him.
The policewoman described the situation that day as "potentially dangerous". Daunte Wright, who was unarmed, did not allow himself to be handcuffed and restarted his car to flee. Kim Potter then unsheathed his weapon, explaining then having believed to take hold of his electric pistol.
"We were fighting to keep him from running away and then it became chaos. I remember yelling Taser, Taser, Taser and nothing happened. And he (his colleague) told me that I shot him. above, "she told the bar on Friday, before bursting into tears.
The victim's family is "relieved"
Kim Potter's lawyer pleaded human error and the effect of stress because he believed she was trying to protect his colleague.
But for prosecutor Erin Eldridge, Daunte Wright died from the reckless handling of a weapon and the negligence of an officer who had 26 years of experience.
In a statement sent to the American media, the family of the victim said Thursday "relieved" that "accounts have been made for this absurd death".
The day of Daunte Wright's death "will remain a trauma for her family and a further example for America of why we desperately need to change policing practices," wrote her relatives.
The death of the young man had particularly moved the United States because it had intervened in the middle of the trial of the police officer Derek Chauvin who, in May 2020 in Minneapolis, killed the black forty-something George Floyd.
Gatherings enamelled with violence had taken place several nights in a row in Brooklyn Center before the arrest of Kim Potter brought calm.
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