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.
Potter: I thought it was a Taser.
Baldwin: I thought it was unloaded.
There are a lot of people out there, free of a prison sentence, that have killed someone with their “car”, while, for whatever the reason, distracted.
And certainly never had any intention of doing so.
They made a mistake, and are now perhaps are so distraught they’re either in therapy or dead at their own hands.
Not exactly in the Ted Bundy or Scott Peterson category IMO.
“Not exactly in the Ted Bundy or Scott Peterson category IMO.”
She is not charged with murder. Why should you compare her to murderers?
“distracted.”
Distracted? She was totally focused on shooting him.
“There are a lot of people out there, free of a prison sentence, that have killed someone with their “car”, while, for whatever the reason, distracted.”
Cite one where there was culpable negligence on the oart if the driver.
Tragically, she never should have been in this position in the first place. She simply had no business being a police officer. She clearly did not have the temperament, the clear-thinking needed in a stressful situation nor the confidence in handling the lethal weaponry she was entrusted with.
What makes me angry about this whole thing is that she was likely a "quota" hire at this police department. In order to have a certain percentage of female officers, this department obviously took on women that had no business wearing the badge.
Now this is not an argument against having women as police officers. There are women who make extremely good police officers. This woman was obviously not one of them.
This is what happens when you lower your standards to hit a quota. Maybe in a typical 200-officer police department, you might get 5-10 excellent women on the force who are as good as the men. But when political correctness and woke nonsense forces a department to get to 15-20% women, well then the bar must be lowered and you end up with incidents such as this.
Kimberly Potter seems like a very nice woman who was put in a very bad situation in which she just was not prepared to handle. She had no business being in that situation or in that kind of a job. She should have been doing a job more suited to her skillset. Maybe an office job, a sales rep or just being a wife and mother.
If that sounds sexist, too bad. As a man, I know my own limitations. I wouldn't last two weeks on a deep sea fishing boat for example. Or two days at a high-rise construction site. There are women out there that could probably do both. So it's not a male or female thing.
This woman should never have been a cop. It's clear from the videos presented at trial that she was in way over her head and should have been doing something else for a living.
But quotas...and the silly notion put forth by the feminists that women can be "whoever they want to be" and that they should shoved into roles they are eminently unqualified for.
“Quota”?? She’s been a cop for 26 years.
Why would that surprise you?
Not every female is a token.
You obviously didn’t read my reply in full.
I agree.
For an expansion of my reasoning, see my post #42.
What was she doing most of those 26 years? Writing parking tickets?
To be fair like a good Freeper I just read your headline. WE sort of discussed this yesterday and I really don’t find the medical mistakes comparable to Potter’s case.
Did the nurse think another nurse was in danger of being harmed? Did she have reason to think the patient had a gun under the covers? Was the patient attempting to escape in a car that could kill her partners?
Also I would argue 2 other things that the defense didn’t argue that I think are true. The defense couldn’t raise them because this trial is purely political. 1. The officer should never have been charged. 2. These cops are well aware that if a black person is killed at a traffic stop, no matter what the circumstance, the cop will likely go to jail.
I like a good discussion, though. I also can listen to facts and change my mind. You haven’t changed my mind. I would be happy, in this case, if Potter only loses her job. Jail time, in this case, would be wrong.
Potter: I thought it was a Taser.
Baldwin: I thought it was unloaded.
Baldwin was also not acting under duress. He had every opportunity to check the gun.
And anyway.. Baldwin didn’t pull the trigger. Yeah that’s the ticket.
“He had every opportunity to check the gun.”
She had the opportunity to check.
The Taser was carried cross-draw.
The Taser is yellow.
The Taser requires moving the safety to the off position.
The Taser is lighter.
The Taser has a different trigger and grip.
Hers or yours as nothing but an arm chair reader who has never been put into such an adrenaline infused situation like that......?
What the hell, why even have court hearings when we can let the internet be the judge and jury.
“Baldwin was also not acting under duress.”
LOL! She panicked. She was a trained veteran.
“Hers or yours as nothing but an arm chair reader who has never been put into such an adrenaline infused situation like that......?”
LOL1. She panicked! Kyle was really under duress but didn’t panic and he was an untrained teenager.
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