Daunte Wright shooter Kim Potter was charged too hastily and defense could capitalize on it, says expert
BROOKLYN CENTER, MINNESOTA: Kim Potter, the former police officer who was recorded on camera fatally shooting the unarmed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter on Wednesday, April 14. Although she posted a bond and was released later that same day, there are some who believe that she should not have been charged in less than two days.
Timothy T Williams Jr, author and expert on police procedure and use of force, has come forward to say that while Potter may have rightly deserved the charges against her, prosecutors made a mistake charging her in less than two days.
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Timothy T Williams Jr has reportedly analyzed many officer-involved shootings in America and says that these kinds of investigations apparently require a great amount of time.
In a recent interview with TMZ, Williams said that there are chances that the case might not be as straightforward as the bodycam footage shows it to be, especially since there are other officers involved. And therefore, there are multiple other videos and pieces of evidence that need to be analyzed.
According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office, 20-year-old Wright died of a gunshot wound to the chest, which was classified as the manner of death as a homicide.
Williams suggested that by hastily charging Potter with second-degree manslaughter, the prosecution took shortcuts — adding that any good defense attorney could capitalize on this if the case goes to trial.
The expert also had a theory on why he thinks this may have happened. He says that because the case drew the attention of the public immediately, prosecutors failed to block out all the public noise. What made matters more urgent and timely was apparently partly due to the proximity to Minneapolis where Derek Chauvin is on trial for the murder of George Floyd.
Williams points out that for the sake of comparison, Chauvin was also arrested and charged fairly quickly — four days after Floyd was killed. Three other former police officers involved in Floyd's arrest are to be tried separately later this year. These officers were charged several days after Chauvin. The charge against Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars.
But Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Wright's family, has an explanation as to why they have started work on the case so quickly. "The reason why we are getting due process so quickly in the state of Minnesota for the killing of Daunte Wright is because of the blood of their children," Crump reportedly told reporters in New York City. According to the latest reports, he also speculation that without the attention of the deaths of Michael Brown, Stephon Clark, Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner charges in Wright's death might not have been possible.