A white female ex-police officer who accidentally killed a black motorist by pulling her gun instead of taser could get up to 15 years in prison under new charges against her, NBC News reported on Thursday, September 3, 2021 (read story here).
Kimberly Potter, 48, a 26-year veteran of a suburban Minneapolis police department, resigned after killing Daunte Wright, 20, during a traffic stop on April 22, 2021 (read details of the incident here).
Potter originally was charged with second-degree manslaughter, but after Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, took over and reviewed the case, his office added an additional charge of first-degree manslaughter, based on reckless handling of a firearm.
Potter has not been convicted of anything, and it will be up to a jury to decide her criminal culpability, if any, for shooting him to death.
The victim wasn’t completely innocent. He was pulled over for expired tags and an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror (which is illegal in Minnesota). When the cops ran an ID check on him, it came back with an outstanding warrant for a misdemeanor firearms violation. At that point, they attempted to arrest him, but he pulled away and tried to get back in his vehicle. It was then Officer Potter meant to subdue him with her taser, but instead shot him.
Charging her with a crime says you can’t take someone’s life by mistake without criminal consequences. That’s certainly the rule applied to citizens. Ultimately, a jury will decide whether it also applies, in this case, to a police officer who was doing her job.
The New York Times says at least 15 police officers “mistook guns for tasers” (in a story here, behind a paywall). A Newsweek story (here) says Wright was the 4th person to be killed that way, and at least 9 other subjects were injured, but doesn’t say how many of those officers were prosecuted.
One of them, an elderly sheriff’s volunteer reserve deputy in Oklahoma who killed an unarmed suspect by drawing his gun instead of a taser, was sentenced to 4 years in prison and served 16 months before being released (story here).
The problem here is that under virtually every state set of laws you can take some ones life by mistake or accident. It is why there are manslaughter laws in every state, but Minnesota’s manslaughter charges are ramped up, and ultimately may not stand up in Federal court.
If it was a civilian or a rent a a cop would the state be pursuing these charges? Accidental shooting happen frequently and often with tragic consequences, and is Minnesota AG Keith Ellison saying all those should be pursued to the limits of the law? Or just for cops? That could run afoul some constitutional amendment about treating people the same or differently.
There is also the little issue of whether the officer could have just pulled her service weapon and shot a fleeing suspect. If she could then Minnesota is going to have a tough time winning appeals if the state should get a conviction.
As you point out, not every accidental death results in criminal charges, but some do. Prosecutors review cases and then make charging decisions. It’s certainly not true that Minnesota enforces its manslaughter laws only against police officers.