Kim Potter, a former Minnesota police officer, convicted of accidentally killing 20-year-old Daunte Wright after mistaking her firearm for her stun gun, was released from prison on Monday, April 24.
Potter’s release from the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee occurred at 4 a.m. on Monday, with the department citing safety concerns and the potential for violent protests outside the facility as reasons for the early hour.
She was convicted of two counts of manslaughter in the killing of Wright during a 2021 traffic stop near Minneapolis. Wright, an unarmed Black man, was pulled over for having expired tags and a hanging air freshener.
According to Minnesota law, which does not allow time off for good behavior, Potter will be on supervised release for the remaining third of her sentence. Her supervised release is set to expire in December.
Potter’s attorney, Earl Gray, revealed that she has no plans to return to Minnesota and will instead live in Wisconsin.
Reacting to Potter’s release, Wright’s mother, Katie, expressed her distress and ongoing struggle to find peace, revealing that the stress of Potter’s trial and conviction had led to a temporary loss of vision due to suffering a stroke.
Expressing her anger, Katie said, “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,” adding, “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.”
Despite her continued struggle, Katie found solace in the fact that Potter will never be able to serve as a police officer again due to her conviction, stating, “She will never be able to hurt anybody as a police officer again. That is the only sense of peace we get as a family.”
Potter emotionally testified during her 2021 trial, apologizing and insisting she “didn’t want to hurt anybody,” stating, “I was very distraught. I just shot somebody. I’m sorry it happened,” as she recounted her behavior after the shooting. She also mentioned being trained with a Taser since 2002 and having received a new model shortly before the fatal shooting in April 2021.
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