Former officer Kim Potter was the final witness called in her trial accused in the April killing of Daunte Wright.
On Friday, she sobbed through an emotional testimony on the stand, but Wright’s loved ones watching here in Houston say her tears can’t drown out what she did.
Calvin Walls reflects on brighter days when his great-nephew, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was still alive.
”That’s all I ever saw him with, a smile,” Walls said. “[He] loved his family. It’s like, you have that person in the house you know is missing.”
Wright was killed near Minneapolis on April 11 during a traffic stop when then officer Kim Potter says she mistakenly fired her service weapon instead of her Taser while trying to prevent Wright from leaving the scene.
On Friday, Potter, whose defense attorneys argued she feared for the lives of her fellow officers when she fired the single fatal shot, broke down on the stand.
”I didn’t want to hurt anybody,” she said.
But, Walls says Potter was dangerously reckless.
”Even if she didn’t mean to pull the trigger, she knew she pulled that gun,” Walls said.
He agrees with prosecutors who say the 26-year veteran was more concerned with her career being ruined rather than Wright’s wellbeing after she failed to call for help.
Potter did however speak on her fears of going to jail.
”She just kept crying about her career. Most of the time, if you didn’t mean to hurt somebody, you ask are they ok,” Walls said.
Potter has pleaded not guilty.
Closing arguments are slated for Monday, and then Potter’s fate lies with a jury.
Walls says he’ll be watching closely.
He hopes Potter is convicted, and that she gets the maximum penalty.