Former police officer Kim Potter has been sentenced to two years in prison for manslaughter over the death of Daunte Wright, who tried to flee a traffic stop.
Potter shot and killed Wright in April in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, when she and fellow officers attempted to take the 20-year-old into custody regarding an outstanding warrant for a weapons possession charge. She resigned from her position a few days later.
In video footage of the incident, Potter was heard telling the man she would tase him, but she mistakenly grabbed her gun and fired once before realizing what happened:
“This is one of the saddest cases I’ve had on my 20 years on the bench,” Judge Regina Chu said during the sentencing on Friday, according to the New York Post. “This is a cop who made a tragic mistake.”
Chu also ruled the former officer will be eligible for supervised release following 16 months behind bars.
In December, jurors convicted her on two manslaughter charges, the Associated Press (AP) reported at the time:
In sometimes tearful testimony, Potter told jurors that she was “sorry it happened.” She said the traffic stop “just went chaotic” and that she shouted her warning about the Taser after she saw a look of fear on the face of Sgt. Mychal Johnson, who was leaning into the passenger-side door of Wright’s car. She also told jurors that she doesn’t remember what she said or everything that happened after the shooting, as much of her memory of those moments “is missing.”
Following the shooting, police in Brooklyn Center arrested several individuals during protests as hundreds of demonstrators, including members of Black Lives Matter and Antifa, gathered at police headquarters but failed to leave when unlawful assembly and curfew declarations had been issued.
Meanwhile, Potter “never intended to hurt anyone,” Chu said.
The sentence was handed down following Potter’s emotional statement and apology to Wright’s family members.
“To the family of Daunte Wright, I am so sorry that I brought the death of your son, father, brother, uncle, grandson, nephew, to your home,” she said.