Dec. 16 (UPI) — An expert on police use of force testified Wednesday that former Brooklyn Center, Minn., officer Kim Potter took “inappropriate” actions when she fatally shot Daunte Wright earlier this year.
Prosecutors called Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, as a witness to testify about Potter’s actions April 11, KMSP-TV in Minneapolis reported.
“A reasonable officer in officer Potter’s position would not have concluded there was imminent threat of death or great bodily harm and thus that the use of bodily harm was excessive and was disproportionate to the threat presented,” Stoughton said.
Potter shot Daunte Wright in the chest during a traffic stop. She was an officer in the Brooklyn Center Police Department when she pulled Daunte Wright over for an expired registration on his vehicle and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror.
Another officer then attempted to arrest Daunte Wright on an outstanding firearms warrant, at which point he attempted to re-enter his vehicle and she shot him to death. Potter said she meant to use her Taser on him, but grabbed her firearm instead.
She pleaded not guilty to one count each of first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter.
Answering questions from the defense, Stoughton said Wednesday that he doesn’t agree that Daunte Wright necessarily would have sped off at a high rate of speed after getting into his vehicle.
Lawyers later questioned Daunte Wright’s father, Arbuey Wright, who testified that his son had good relationships with his siblings and his son, Daunte Wright Jr.
“I miss him a lot, every day,” Arbuey Wright said, according to KSTP-TV in Minneapolis.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Judge Regina Chu stopped Potter’s lawyers from introducing evidence of Daunte Wright’s prior “bad behavior,” including previous attempts to flee from police during arrest. Chu said Potter wouldn’t have known about this previous behavior, so the jury shouldn’t, either.
