Outcome reached in Kim Potter trial over Daunte Wright's death

Daunte Wright, who was fatally shot by Kim Potter during a traffic stop, had a gross misdemeanor warrant and an order of protection against him.

Potter maintained that it is not uncommon to find someone who has a warrant during a traffic stop and that a gross misdemeanor is a lesser offense than a felony. Potter also recalled the temporary order of protection against Wright.

When prosecutor Erin Eldridge asked if "just having a female passenger in your car is not in and by itself a violation of an OFP [order of protection]," Potter said it has to be investigated. 

Eldridge then asked, "You did not see a need to rush up to the passenger side of the vehicle and pull this woman to safety, right?"

"Not at the moment," Potter replied.

Kim Potters was asked about the department's Taser policy, which she said states "that all training should include performing reaction hand draws or cross draws to reduce the possibility of accidentally drawing and firing a firearm."

She also maintained that she received extensive use of force training.

"Part of the reason for that is weapons confusion, right?" the prosecution asked.

"Yes," Potter replied. 

"And that was known in the field and has been known for a number of years," the prosecution continued.

"We talked about it," Potter said.

Potter wore her Taser on her left side and her firearm on her right side, according to her testimony. She said it's been like this since 2016. 

She said she has never deployed her Taser but has pulled it out for de-escalation purposes.

Kim Potter was emotional on the witness stand as she described the fatal traffic stop. She shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was being arrested by officers and attempted to flee. 

"I remember a struggle with Officer [Anthony] Luckey and the driver at the door," Potter testified. "The driver was trying to get back into the car … I went around Officer Luckey as they're trying to get back in the door."

She added, "They're still struggling and I can see Officer Johnson and the drivers struggling over the gearshifts because I can see Johnson's hand and then I can see his face."

She then described Sgt. Mychal Johnson, who was holding Wright from the passenger side of the car. 

"He had a look of fear on his face -- nothing I'd seen before," she said. "We're trying to keep him from driving away. It just went chaotic. And then I remember yelling, 'Taser, Taser, Taser,' and nothing happened and then [Wright] told me I shot him."

Kim Potter said she would not have stopped Wright over the air freshener nor the expired registration tabs if she were not field training.

"An air freshener, to me, is not just an equipment violation," she testified. "The COVID times, the high COVID times, the Department of Motor Vehicles was so offline that people weren't getting tabs and we were advised not to try to enforce a lot of those things because the tabs were just not in circulation. Part of field training is that my probationer would make numerous contacts with the public throughout the day," she said, regarding Officer Anthony Luckey, who she was training at the time.

She said that traffic stops can be dangerous for police officers.

"Sometimes there's guns in the car," she testified. "Sometimes there's uncooperative people, you don't know who you're stopping."