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Former Police Officer Kim Potter Gets 2 Years For Killing Daunte Wright, Leaving His Family ‘Stunned’
Before Kim Potter was sentenced to two years behind bars, Daunte Wright's mother Katie Ann Wright told her, "I'll never be able to forgive you for what you've stolen from us."
The former Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop has been sentenced to two years behind bars.
Kim Potter was sentenced in a Hennepin County courtroom on Friday morning, two months after she was convicted of both first- and second-degree manslaughter, CNN reports. She will be able to be released early on good behavior within 16 months.
Potter, who is white, shot Wright — a 20-year-old Black man — during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota in April of 2021. She said she confused her gun for a Taser as she attempted to arrest him for an outstanding warrant.
Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu called the sentence "an extremely difficult decision” on Friday, CNN reports. She stated that it was undisputed that Potter didn’t intend to shoot Wright. However, she said that retribution through incarceration would serve a purpose in this case.
"This is not a cop found guilty of murder for using his knee to pin down a person for nine and a half minutes as he gasped for air," she said, referring to the notorious 2020 killing of George Floyd in nearby Minneapolis. "This is not a cop found guilty of manslaughter for intentionally drawing his firearm and shooting across his partner and killing an unarmed woman who approached his squad."
Wright's family is not happy with the sentencing; their lawyer Ben Crump wrote in a statement, provided to Oxygen.com, that they are "completely stunned.”
"While there is a small sense of justice because she will serve nominal time, the family is also deeply disappointed there was not a greater level of accountability," the statement reads. "The Judge's comments at sentencing showed a clear absence of compassion for the victim in this tragedy and were devastating to the family."
Before the sentence was handed down, Daunte's mother Katie Ann Wright accused Potter of dehumanizing her son, People reports.
"I'll never be able to forgive you for what you've stolen from us,” she told the woman who shot her son to death.
"On this day she did not protect. She failed Daunte, our family, and our community," the mother said. "She left our world with so much darkness and heartache."
Daunte's father Arbuey Wright told the court that Potter "was trained to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening," National Public Radio reports.
"She was a police officer longer than my son was alive," he said. "I ask that Kim Potter be held accountable and that the maximum sentence be applied, which is incomparable to the life sentence we have been given because of her negligence. My son Daunte's life was taken away way too soon, and he's never coming back."
Before she was sentenced, Potter apologized to Wright's family, saying, "I am so sorry that I brought the death of your son, father, brother, uncle, grandson, nephew, and the rest of your family. I'm sorry I broke your heart."
