Manslaughter charge for Minnesota cop who shot Black 20-year-old

MINNEAPOLIS: The police officer who shot dead Black 20-year-old Daunte Wright in a Minneapolis suburb after appearing to mistake her gun for her Taser was arrested on manslaughter charges.

Minneapolis has been roiled by nightly violent protests after Kim Potter (pic), who is white, opened fire on Wright in his car on Sunday.

Racial tensions were already high in the Midwestern US city as it hosts the trial of the white policeman charged with murdering George Floyd, whose death touched off a national reckoning over racial injustice.

Potter, a 26-year police veteran who resigned after Wright’s death, faces a maximum of 10 years in jail if convicted of second-degree manslaughter.

She is due to appear in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing after being released on a $100,000 bail, according to local media.

“While we appreciate that the district attorney is pursuing justice for Daunte, no conviction can give the Wright family their loved one back,” said the Wrights’ family lawyer Ben Crump after the arrest.

“This was no accident. This was an intentional, deliberate, and unlawful use of force.”

“We will keep fighting for justice for Daunte, for his family, and for all marginalized people of colour.”

Protesters faced off with police for a fourth night of violent clashes on Wednesday evening.

Riot police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators outside the fortified police station in Brooklyn Center, the suburb where Sunday’s shooting took place. 

About nine miles (14 kilometres) away, the judge presiding over the trial of Derek Chauvin denied a defence motion earlier Wednesday to acquit him of murder and manslaughter charges for the death of Floyd.

Chauvin, who is white, was seen in a video taken by a bystander kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as the handcuffed 46-year-old complained repeatedly that he “can’t breathe.”

Defense attorney Eric Nelson said prosecutors had failed to prove their case against the 45-year-old Chauvin beyond a reasonable doubt and he should be acquitted.

The video of Floyd’s May 25, 2020 arrest sparked protests against racial injustice and police brutality in the United States and around the world.

A forensic pathologist called by the defence on Wednesday said Floyd died from cardiac arrest brought on by heart disease, illegal drug use and other factors.

The testimony of David Fowler contradicted that of several medical experts put on the witness stand by the prosecution who said Floyd died of lack of oxygen while being held facedown on the ground.