MINNEAPOLIS — Former police officer Kim Potter gets out of prison Monday, two years after fatally shooting Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in a Brooklyn Center neighborhood.
Potter, a 26-year police veteran, said she confused her gun for a Taser. But the police killing of an unarmed 20-year-old Black man sparked protests and calls for reform around pretextual traffic stops, where minor traffic or equipment violations are used by police to pull over drivers they wish to investigate.
Activists flooded Brooklyn Center within hours of the shooting and clashed with scores of law enforcement officials for days outside the police station. Wright's death captured national attention since it happened during the trial of ex-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin's for murdering George Floyd.