Kim Potter, the former Brooklyn Center police officer who served 16 months in prison for manslaughter in the 2021 death of Daunte Wright, initially was set to help train enforcement officers for the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board next week.
Kim Potter was set to help lead use-of-force training in Washington state. Then it was canceled.
A board changed its mind after learning the training would have been co-led by Potter, the former police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright in 2021.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 15, 2024 at 12:00PM
The training would have been led by Potter and Imran Ali, the former Washington County prosecutor who stepped down from prosecuting Potter’s case, Ali said Saturday.
But the board canceled its “Remorse to Redemption: Lessons Learned” training after the Seattle Times called to ask about it, the newspaper reported Saturday. The board reportedly took its action out of respect for the Wright family.
Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, could not be reached for comment Saturday, but told the Times she was upset with the idea of Potter “having that spotlight.” A spokesperson from the Liquor and Cannabis Board did not respond Saturday to a request for comment.
But Ali, now senior director of training, consulting and investigation services at the Twin Cities law firm Eckberg Lammers, confirmed that the board notified him via email the contract was canceled. Board leaders did not give a reason or address any concerns with him beforehand, he said.
“I knew it’d be controversial. I understand that aspect of it,” Ali said. But he said he saw Potter’s involvement as a way to have other officers learn from her mistakes.
“I think that if we continue to silence thoughtful discussion, if we continue to silence training, we’re going to continue to make the same mistakes,” he said. “It was apparent to me that what she wanted to do, was to do whatever she could do to effectuate change.”
Ali stepped down from Potter’s case and resigned his position with the Washington County Attorney’s Office after receiving “vitriol” infused with “partisan politics,” he said, from activists demanding justice for Wright.
The presentation he planned for next week was to have focused on the use of force by law enforcement officers. It would have included Potter, who maintained she mistook her gun for her Taser when she shot Wright, in a “minimal role,” he said.
Potter could not be reached for comment Saturday. But Ali said she planned to “set the record straight that no one deserves to die.”
She wanted to make it clear she “made a grave mistake,” he said. “That mistake caused [the loss of] life of somebody. Is there something that she can do? Is there some sort of advice she can give to the young officers that may be in a position where they may not take training seriously?”
Ali compared including Potter in the presentation to “convicted gang members of murder that have gotten out, that are now in a teaching circuit, educating about what they’ve learned.”
He said that if requested, he would host the training with Potter in the future with another agency.
According to the Times story, Ali and the board signed a contract in February to do the presentation for $8,000. The story said the contract did not name Wright or list Potter’s credentials, but said she killed a person while on duty.
A board spokesman told the Times they did not recognize Potter’s name until contacted by a Times reporter. After the board was notified, the board chair and director decided Thursday to cancel Ali’s contract.
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