US officer faces manslaughter charge over shooting of black man

MINNEAPOLIS • The white suburban police officer who fatally shot a young black motorist during a traffic stop in Minnesota, igniting several nights of civil unrest, has been charged with manslaughter, a day after the officer turned in her badge.

Mr Daunte Wright, 20, was pulled over on Sunday in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Centre for what police said was an expired vehicle registration, then struggled with police. He was shot dead by officer Kimberly Potter, 48, who had threatened to stun him with a Taser but fired her handgun instead.

The shooting escalated tensions in a region already on edge over the ongoing trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the use of deadly force last May against Mr George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who was suspected of passing a bogus US$20 (S$27) note.

Potter, a 26-year department veteran, was taken into custody on Wednesday by agents of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at its office in nearby St Paul, the authorities said.

She was held on a charge of second-degree manslaughter but released hours later after posting US$100,000 bond, according to jail records.

Hundreds of protesters massed outside Brooklyn Centre police headquarters for a fourth night on Wednesday, attending a rally that was mostly peaceful as darkness fell, with organisers urging the crowd to remain orderly.

However, groups of demonstrators persisted in taunting sheriff's deputies lined up behind a chain-link fence in front of the building, throwing objects over the barrier.

The officers in turn periodically approached the fence to douse those on the other side with pepper spray.

To convict Potter of second-degree manslaughter under Minnesota law, prosecutors must show that she was "culpably negligent" and had taken an "unreasonable risk" in her actions against Mr Wright.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a US$20,000 fine.

In a police video of the shooting, Potter is heard shouting: "Taser, Taser, Taser!" as she draws her weapon and fires at Mr Wright in his car after he had pulled away from another officer.

REUTERS