Expert: Kim Potter was not justified in using deadly force

By SCOTT BAUER and STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A use-of-force expert has testified that former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter was not justified in using deadly force when she fatally shot Daunte Wright. Seth Wayne Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, said Wednesday that no reasonable officer could have believed that shooting Wright was necessary as he tried to flee an attempted arrest. His testimony undercut a defense claim that Potter would have been justified in shooting Wright even if she had intended to, though she has said she meant to pull her Taser. Potter is charged with manslaughter in Wright’s death. Prosecutors say even an intended use of a Taser on Wright would have violated her suburban Minneapolis police department’s policy.