Kim Potter, the former Minnesota police officer who fatally shot black motorist Daunte Wright in 2021, will be released from prison Monday, the state department of corrections said.
The 50-year-old man was sentenced to two years in jail in February 2022, convicted of first- and second-degree manslaughter in the murder of 20-year-old Wright on April 11, 2021, in the Brooklyn suburb of Center. in Minneapolis.
Potter, a 26-year police veteran with the Downtown Brooklyn Police Department, said she mistakenly drew her handgun instead of her Taser in the shooting that sparked national uproar and protests.
He has been in jail since December 23, 2021 and has served 16 months at the Shakopee Minnesota Correctional Facility. After her release, she will serve another eight months on supervised release.
Potter’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections said Potter will be monitored during release for her protection.
“We will quickly adjust and alter our release procedures if we obtain information indicating a credible threat to the safety of Kim Potter or the safety of others exists,” the department said.
In the 2021 shooting, police pulled Wright over for expired license plates and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror, authorities said. Police said they discovered an outstanding warrant and tried to arrest him and that Wright tried to flee before he was shot.
Potter delivered tearful testimony at the trial, recounting the moment she realized what she had done.
“We were trying to stop him from going away. It just got chaotic… And then, I remember yelling, ‘Taser. Taser. Tasers’. And nothing happened. And then, he told me, I shot him,” she said.
The fatal shooting sparked a new wave of outrage over police brutality and institutional racism, as Wright’s death came just a year after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Wright was shot and killed about 10 miles north of the courthouse where former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted in Floyd’s death.
Potter’s sentence was significantly less than the 86 months prosecutors had requested, leading Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, to say after sentencing, «the justice system murdered him again.»
Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu said at the time that Potter deserved less because he was trying to use his Taser and not his gun.
“This is one of the saddest cases I have had in my 20 years on the bench,” Chu said.
Potter was ordered to serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody and one-third on supervised release, with credit for 58 days already served.