(The Center Square) – Judge Regina Chu sentenced former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter to two years in prison for unintentionally killing 20-year-old Daunte Wright.
Daunte Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, asked for “the highest accountability” in Potter’s sentencing for fatally shooting Wright, apparently confusing a firearm with a taser when he fled a traffic stop.
Prosecutors sought a seven-year sentence while Potter’s attorneys argued for a lesser sentence, citing no criminal record.
Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote that a 26-year veteran shouldn’t have confused a lethal weapon for a non-lethal one.
“The sanctity of Daunte Wright’s life deserved the protection of the law like any other person,” Ellison wrote. “Defendant Potter was a highly trained law enforcement officer.”
In December, a jury found Potter guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the shooting of Wright, whom she pulled over for expired tags and a dangling air freshener.
Brooklyn Center is nine miles from Minneapolis.
