The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified on Monday night the police officer who shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright as Kim Potter. Potter was a long-time veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department.
Potter is on standard administrative leave. She has worked for the department for over 25 years and is president of the Brooklyn Center Police Officer’s Association. In that role, she has represented other officers involved in deadly shootings. In government records, her salary in 2019 was $90,513. The mayor, Mike Elliott, wants her to lose her job. He has already removed the city manager who stated in a news conference that the officer would get due process. The city council also passed a motion 3-2 to give command authority over the police department to the mayor’s office.
According to a DA’s office report, Potter is the department’s police union president; she is a member of the “casket team” honor guard for the Law Enforcement Memorial Association. She is 48 years old and a registered Republican.
Potter has served on the BCPD’s negotiation team.
A report from Hennepin County describes Potter’s role in a previous police shooting, in which Kobe Dimock-Heisler was fatally shot after allegedly rushing officers with a knife. Acting as union president, she was one of the first to the scene to advise the officers.
Dimock-Heisler was a 21-year-old with a history of mental problems and was on the autism spectrum. He was initially unarmed when police arrived outside the home, but when officers assessed the situation inside, the young man sprang from his chair, grabbed a knife and attempted to stab the officers. Three officers fired their tasers with no effect, and then he was shot. The shooting was declared justified.
Potter’s husband is a former police officer who is now a corporate investigator for a major company. His LinkedIn page says he is “Skilled in Investigations, Threat Management, Active Shooter Instruction, Field training (FTO), Weapons Handling, Law Enforcement, and Glock and M4 Armorer and Range Master.”
Potter has two adult sons, aged 19 and 22.
Local source, Daily Beast, and Heavy.