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Kim Potter

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Crime Fighter

The Resume

    (June 18, 1977- )
    Born in Chaplin, Minnesota
    Officer in the Brooklyn Center [Minnesota] Police Department
    Fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man, during an attempted arrest for an outstanding warrant following a traffic stop (April 11, 2021)
    Resigned from the Police Department (April 13, 2021)
    Convicted of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter (December 23, 2021)
    Sentenced to two years in prison with credit for time served (February 18, 2022)
    Released after sixteen months (April 24, 2023)

Why she might be annoying:

    Wright was pulled over for having an expired registration tag and an air freshener hanging off the rear view mirror, suggesting officers looking for an excuse to question a motorist guilty of DWB (driving while black).
    She claimed she had intended to taser Wright, not shoot him.
    Her pistol was black, weighed 2.1 pounds, and was holstered on her right side; her taser was yellow, weighed 0.9 pounds, and was holstered on her left side.
    Body camera footage showed that before firing, she held the gun for 5.5 seconds without apparently noticing it was the wrong color and weight to be her taser.
    The shooting triggered a new wave of the unrest in Minnesota that had started after the killing of George Floyd the previous year.
    She admitted during the trial that Wright had not been violent and had not made any verbal threats during the arrest.

Why she might not be annoying:

    There had been no complaints against her during her 26 years on the force before the Wright shooting.
    She was yelling 'Taser, taser, taser!' before the shooting and after said 'Oh shit, I just shot him,' suggesting she really had failed to realize she was holding her gun instead of her taser.
    She had to flee her home for safety when her address leaked on social media.
    Explaining her decision to impose a two-year sentence (instead of the six to eight years recommended by sentencing guidelines), Judge Regina Cho said Potter had made a 'tragic mistake.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 174 Votes: 60.92% Annoying