Officer Faces More Serious Charge in Daunte Wright Death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Minnesota prosecutors have filed a more serious charge against the former suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Black motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, but it is not the murder charge that activists were seeking.

Former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter is now charged with first-degree manslaughter, in addition to a prior charge of second-degree manslaughter.

Activists had demanded a murder charge, protesting outside a local prosecutor's home before Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison took over the case. Ellison determined a first-degree manslaughter charge was warranted.

Potter, who is white, fatally shot Wright on April 11. The city's former police chief had said he believed Potter meant to use her Taser instead of her handgun.

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