Daunte Wright's Family Reacts To Kim Potter Verdict

The family of Daunte Wright is speaking out on the conviction of Kim Potter.

As previously reported a jury found the former Brooklyn Center officer GUILTY of first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting Wright during a traffic-stop-turned-arrest on April 11, 2021. Jurors deliberated over the course of four days and for nearly 27 hours. The maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years and a $30,000 fine, and for second-degree manslaughter, it’s 10 years and a $20,000 fine.

ABC News reports that Katie Bryant, Wright’s mother, said during a press conference that she could “never forgive” the former Brooklyn Center police officer who killed her son and she cried happy tears when she heard the guilty verdict. Aubrey Wright, Daunte’s Wright father, also agreed that forgiveness is not an option for the former officer who claimed she mistakenly shot the 20-year-old instead of tasing him.

Source: KEREM YUCEL / Getty

“When they read first guilty my heart dropped and I let out a wail and buried my head in his chest. Tears of joy,” said Bryant noting that she went through “every single emotion that you could imagine.”

“Never. I could never forgive that woman. She took my son away from me,” said Wright’s father.

On CNN, Katie Bryant added that Kim Potter’s conviction is a small step towards justice…

“Justice would be Daunte being home. Justice would be no more names being yelled in our streets. And (when) that happens and we don’t have to fight anymore, that’s when true justice will be,” Wright’s mother, Katie Bryant, told CNN’s Erica Hill on “New Day” Friday. “But right now, we’re going to accept accountability, and we’re thankful for that.”

and when she was asked what she wanted people to know about Wright, who was a father to a toddler, she reflected on her late child’s smile. 

“Daunte was my son. He had a smile that would light up the room. He was a father. He was — he had his whole life ahead of him. And he was taken too soon, and we weren’t able to see what he was going to become,” Bryant said.

Source: Stephen Maturen / Getty

As for Daunte’s Aunt, Naisha Wright, the Kim Potter conviction is “bittersweet”, considering that no matter the verdict, her nephew still won’t be home for the holidays.

“It’s bittersweet still, you know, because Daunte is not here and tomorrow is Christmas,” she told NPR’s Sarah McCammon. “Very emotional, very emotional. Happy that, you know, there were guilty charges. But it’s very, very emotional because, again, he’s not here.”

[…] Justice would have been if we could have got him back. We at least feel happy that there was some accountability. But justice? If we could change the system, that’s justice.”

Kim Potter’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 18.

Best wishes to the family of Daunte Wright as they celebrate the guilty verdict but still have to endure the holidays without him.