The girlfriend of Daunte Wright took the stand to testify about the day former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter fatally shot her boyfriend while the two were in his car together.
On Thursday (Dec. 9), Alayna Albrecht-Payton emotionally told jurors that she tried to revive Wright after the shooting. “I tried to scream his name,” she recalled. “‘Daunte, please say something please. Just talk to me.’ I know he tried. I know he wanted to because I replay that image in my head daily.”
After Wright was shot, he crashed his car into a fence. Albrecht-Payton said she tried to “get him up” by pushing on his chest and calling this name. However, the 20-year-old was unresponsive. She said her boyfriend was “gasping” and “taking breaths of air.”
“I took my belt off and I grabbed whatever was in the car,” the young woman added. “I don’t remember if it was a sweater or a towel or blanket… I just grabbed whatever it was and put it on his chest like you know you see in the movies and TV shows,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
As REVOLT previously reported, Potter fatally shot Wright during a traffic stop earlier this year. The former cop alleged that she mistakenly used her firearm instead of her taser when he tried to flee in his vehicle. Potter was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter, however, back in September, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed an amended complaint to add a charge of first-degree manslaughter.
On Wednesday (Dec. 8), the opening statements for Potter’s manslaughter trial began. If convicted of first-degree manslaughter, she faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. The second-degree manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.