MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will take over the prosecution of former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kimberly A. Potter in the shooting death of Daunte Wright, his office announced Friday.
The move — just over a month after Wright's death during a traffic stop — comes after activists demanded that Washington County Attorney Pete Orput be taken off the case, confronting the Stillwater resident at his home in a series of protests.
"I did not seek this prosecution and do not accept it lightly," Ellison said it a statement Friday. "I have had, and continue to have, confidence in how both County Attorney Orput and County Attorney (Mike) Freeman have handled this case to date."
Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, shot Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during an April 11 traffic stop. Police said Potter, who is white, had mistaken her gun for her Taser. She has been charged with second-degree manslaughter and is scheduled to stand trial Dec. 6.
Friday's announcement was welcomed by civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, one of the leaders of protests at Orput's house.
"Once again, this demonstrates the power of the people and our willingness to show up to apply pressure and to be unrelenting in the pursuit of justice," she said. "This wouldn't have happened without people showing up in Stillwater to demand justice for Daunte Wright."
Orput was originally assigned the Hennepin County case under a system enacted last year by metro area county attorneys that sought to eliminate the appearance of bias in the prosecution of police shootings. It was his decision to return the case to Freeman's office that set in motion Friday's announcement, according to the attorney general's office.
"I want to thank Attorney General Ellison personally for his leadership and I'm grateful that he has agreed to take this case," Orput said in a statement. "I believe that the review and the prosecution of this case and cases like it belongs with the Attorney General, and I call on the Legislature to provide all the funding necessary so that his office can do this work."
Protesters had made issue of Orput's past as a volunteer attorney for the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, a tie that both Orput and the association say no longer exists. After Orput charged Potter with second-degree manslaughter, protests increased at his home, urging him to upgrade the charges while simultaneously calling for Ellison to take over the prosecution.
Levy Armstrong said Friday that it wasn't just Orput's past ties to the chiefs association, but also the broader history of metro area county attorneys when it comes to police shootings, that led protesters to demand change. She called for a "paradigm shift" in how such cases are handled that would see the governor create a new office to review and prosecute killings by police.
After Orput returned the case to Freeman, the Hennepin County attorney asked Ellison's office to take over the case, a move allowed under state statutes that authorize the attorney general's office to review and prosecute a criminal case upon request from a county attorney.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank, the manager of the criminal division who was also a presenting attorney in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, will supervise the case.
The attorney general's criminal division does not have a large staff, and Freeman's office has agreed to provide staff to the attorney general's prosecution team. The team has already begun to review evidence and the charges against Potter, the attorney general's office said.
Also in a statement Friday, Gov. Tim Walz said he and first lady Gwen Walz hosted Wright's family at the governor's residence this week.
"We heard their desire to have the strongest legal team possible to bring their family justice," the governor said. "No verdict will bring Daunte back to his family, but I have full faith that Attorney General Ellison will build the best team possible to pursue accountability for what happened that tragic day."
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott, who has set major police reform efforts in motion since Wright's death, welcomed the news and said in a statement that the city "will work collaboratively" with Ellison's office.
"I believe this is a milestone moment in our pursuit of justice," Elliott said.
