MINNEAPOLIS – Prosecutors added a charge of first-degree manslaughter against Kim Potter, the white suburban police officer who shot and killed a black man during a traffic stop. Originally Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter. The difference:
> First-degree manslaughter. Means recklessly using a firearm when death could be reasonably foreseen.
> Second-degree manslaughter. Means culpable negligence and unreasonable risk of causing death with a firearm.
The differences may seem minute but not the punishment. First-degree is punishable by 15 years in prison, second-degree by 10. Potter has claimed she she made a mistake — that she meant to pull a taser-gun from her belt, not a handgun. Activists have claimed excessive policing in the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright and pressed for a charge of murder. The case is being prosecuted by state Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Earlier: State takes Brooklyn Center cop case