Posted on 12/20/2021 10:50:27 AM PST by L.A.Justice
Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter took the stand in her own defense on Friday, telling jurors her account of what happened on April 11.
Potter said, after Officer Anthony Luckey told Daunte Wright not to tense up, the stop "just went chaotic." Potter then said she saw fear in Sgt. Mychal Johnson's face like "nothing I've seen before" and then didn't realize she'd shot Wright until Wright yelled he'd been shot.
Potter cried as she discussed Wright's shooting and as the state later played segments of her body camera video. She also was asked if she would've pulled over Wright if she was alone and not with Luckey, and responded, "Most likely not there."
The state highlighted the extensive training she received over her career, the fact that she'd carried a Taser since 2005 and, except for a brief period when she first got the Taser, that she carried the Taser on her left side and gun on her right for over a decade. Assistant Attorney General Erin Eldridge also noted the de-escalation training Potter had, specifically since she worked as a crisis negotiator.
Potter cried frequently during cross-examination, at one point saying through tears, "I'm sorry it happened. I'm so sorry." As Eldridge said Potter knew deadly force was unreasonable and grilled her for not trying to provide aid or relay information to other officers, Potter replied, "I didn't want to hurt anybody."
The former officer also said she resigned from the department after shooting Wright because "There was so much bad things happening. I didn't want my coworkers and I didn't want anything bad to happen to the city."
Her testimony came after Laurence Miller — who has a doctoral degree in psychology and has specialties in forensic psychology, neuropsychology and police psychology — testified about action error and how someone can think they're doing one thing, like grabbing a Taser, when they actually do another, such as grab a gun, when under extreme stress. The state pushed back against his testimony by highlighting the extensive training officers receive to handle that stress and the measures taken — such as the differences between a Taser and gun and the sides they're carried on — to mitigate weapon confusion.
The defense rested its case just before 2 p.m. and, after Judge Regina Chu reminded jurors not to discuss or watch anything about the case, dismissed them for the weekend.
Court is scheduled to reconvene Monday at 9 a.m. when closing statements and final jury instructions will be presented before the jury begins deliberations.
Potter is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter in Wright's death.
Click here to read more in-depth notes or watch Friday's proceedings.
I'm usually protective of cops, and give them a great deal of leeway when dealing with thugs like Wright. In this case, I think this mistake is inexcusable, though I'm not sure which criminal act she is guilty of. Some sort of negligent homicide. I do agree that jail time is unnecessary here, but I think a felony conviction of sort is deserved.
My difficulty with your proposition about Potter is that you or I would be held to an entirely different standard by people like Potter.
“BTW, for the record, you are worrying about the fate of a fugitive, one who was charged with choking and robbing a woman.”
What the dead guy did or did not do is not on trial here. What an officer of the law did is what’s on trial.
The Constitution does not have a clause that says cops get to kill people who are accused of crimes. It says that everyone is supposed to be equal before the law.
I'm worried about police officers killing people unnecessarily. Having a badge is not a license to kill.
I’m not a juror. I can use any facts I want, or none at all, to make a judgment of the incident.
You want to make law enforcenment a sport. Guess what? That’s what you’re gonna get. Hope you enjoy it.
There’s much more to this case than taking flight.
The jury should not consider what Kim Potter would or wouldn’t do. The fact is that what she is charged with, man 1 and 2, both require that she consciously shoots the victim. IMO that was never proven by the prosecution.
‘by the person’s culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously
takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another”.
Are you somehow missing the fact that this must be a conscious decision? The prosecutor has to prove that in addition to negligence.
You’re saying Chauvin intended to kill Floyd?
> You’re saying Chauvin intended to kill Floyd? <
No, of course not. And there’s not a hint of that in my previous post.
The Chauvin and Potter case are similar in that neither cop meant to kill - or even injure - the suspect. But here’s where it differs. Potter made a single-second error. She didn’t keep on shooting at the suspect as he drove away.
Chauvin, on the other hand, keep his actions going for quite a few minutes. He kept Floyd restrained on the ground. Would Floyd be alive today otherwise? It’s a mess. I honestly don’t know.
Which is precisely my point: that “intent” should always be weighed heavily when essentially ending the defendant’s life as he/she knows it.
It’s quite frustrating to me that so many (see the 2020 BLM/ANTIFA riots) thugs whose sole intent was causing death, mayhem, and physical and property damage are simply let off the hook.
Whereas law enforcement officers whose lethal actions, while at times horrible, tragic, and regrettable to the nth degree, can still, at times, be legitimately classified as something we’ve all experienced to one extent or another: they made a terrible mistake in the course of doing what they thought was right.
“Are you somehow missing the fact that this must be a conscious decision? “
She consciously drew the weapon and consciously pulled the trigger ...
Potter: I thought it was a Taser.
Baldwin: I thought it was unloaded.
“There’s much more to this case than taking flight.”
Educate me.
Do what the cop tells you to do when the cop tells you to do it and your chances of being shot by a cop drop to nearly zero.
L
” be legitimately classified as something we’ve all experienced to one extent or another”
Sorry. I have never killed anyone with my ‘Taser’.
“It was 100% an accident.
But does her negligence rise to the level of criminal behavior”
Even accidents can be criminal acts. Culpable Negligence. Second Degree manslaughter.
“t (and trust me, I’m no cop-lover).”
And neither a lawyer.
Did the patient die?
NASHVILLE (WSMV) - A former Vanderbilt nurse who’s on trial for administering a deadly dose of the wrong drug to a patient has officially lost her nurse’s license.
Back in December 2017, 75-year-old Charlene Murphy died after Radonda Vaught gave her a fatal dose of Vecuronium Bromide, a drug that causes paralysis, instead of Versed, which treats anxiety.
Vaught was charged with patient abuse and reckless homicide. She was let go from Vanderbilt University Medical Center on January 3, 2018.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.