A dramatic new video was shown to jurors on Wednesday in the trial of Minnesota police officer Kim Potter wherein she is seen collapsing on ground and screaming, 'I shot him, oh my God' after she used her gun instead of the her taser as she tried to stop a fleeing Daunte Wright. The video was captured from her bodycam and dashcam and could prove crucial in her manslaughter trial.
Potter, 49, is under trail for fatally shooting Wright on April 11 when he was trying to flee during a traffic stop. Potter allegedly reached for her gun instead of her taser and shot point blank at Wright. Potter, who has since resigned from her post, claims the 20-year-old Wright "by accident."
Crucial New Video
The new video that was shown to jurors on Wednesday during the trial shows Potter immediately realizing that she shot Wright instead of tasering him and soon collapses on the ground. "Oh s--t! I just shot him, oh my God," Potter is heard yelling just moments after shooting Wright on April 11 in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
She soon realizes the blunder she made. "I grabbed the wrong f***ing gun! I shot him," she tells other cops at the scene. She then falls to the curb wailing uncontrollably, the footage shows. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm going to prison."
The video also shows Wright speeding off in his car moments after being shot but soon comes to a halt after he hits another vehicle down the road.
Potter, who is seen completely breaking down after shooting Wright, realized the mistake she made. She since has claimed that though she tried to pull out her taser not the Glock 9mmm handgun, it was a mistake and the entire thing was "an accident."
Fate Handing in Balance
The new video might now just become crucial in deciding Potter's fate. Although it shows that Potter, a 26-year-old veteran, may have accidently shot Wright, prosecutors have been arguing that the death was a result of Potter's irresponsibility. Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Erin Eldridge told the jury during opening statements that Potter should have known better, and "betrayed her badge" when she killed Wright.
Moreover, Anthony Luckey, the cop Potter was training at the time when Wright was stopped, gave evidence against her. Luckey said that he heard Potter yell, "Taser! taser! taser!" a warning supposed to give officers time to move away. But he instead almost immediately saw a flash and smoke and heard the bang of Potter's gun.
Luckey said that Potter didn't give him time to move when she shot at Wright as a result of which when she fired, the casing hit him in the face as it discharged. He said he still had hands on Wright when the bullet hit.
Eldridge said that people have faith in police but Potter's actions breaks that trust. Addressing the jury in calm steady tones Eldridge said, "We expect them not to betray their badge and to withhold their oath. We trust them to know wrong from right and left from right." That was in reference to Potter pulling her firearm from her right hip rather than her taser from her left.
Eldridge said the taser, which Potter wore on the left side of her belt, weighs less than half as much as her gun, which she holstered on the right side.
"Firing a weapon, blindly assuming it to be a Taser, after drawing the wrong weapon from the wrong side," Eldridge said. "She did all those things, with a gun. That's what she actually did." Eldridge also drew attention of the jury saying that Potter put on her duty belt every day with her gun on the right and her taser on the left.
Moreover, she said that Potter had just completed further training on her Taser 7 on March 2 and yet made the mistake in just over a month.
Also present at Wednesday's trial was Wright's mother Katie Bryant. An emotional Katie recalled speaking to her son on his mobile phone right after he was pulled over.
Bryant said that after the call disconnected, she called back Wright again using FaceTime. Wright was with his girlfriend in the car at that time and she answered. "She was screaming and I said, 'What's wrong?'" Bryant said. "'They shot him,' and she faced the phone toward the driver's seat and my son was laying there, he was unresponsive and he looked dead."
Bryant said that after she reached the scene police didn't allow her to go near her son's body, which was under a sheet — but said she knew it was him because of the sneakers he was wearing.
Wednesday's video and testimony from Luckey and Bryant may now prove crucial in deciding Potter's fate.
