Ex-cop Kim Potter didn't test her Taser as required the day she fatally shot Daunte Wright, investigator says

• Ex-cop Kim Potter is on trial for manslaughter in the shooting death of Daunte Wright.
• Potter has said that she intended to grab her Taser instead of her gun when she fatally shot Wright during a traffic stop in April.

An investigator who collected evidence from former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter said in court Monday that Potter did not test her Taser in accordance with department policy on the day she fatally shot Daunte Wright.

Potter is on trial on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter. The former officer has pleaded not guilty to both charges, and has said that she intended to grab her Taser rather than her gun during the deadly April traffic stop.

Body-camera footage of the shooting played in court shows Potter shout, "Taser! Taser! Taser!" before shooting Wright in the chest. Shortly afterward, the footage shows Potter say, "Shit! I shot him!" before collapsing to the ground and saying, "I'm going to prison."

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Special Agent Sam McGinnis, a member of the agency's investigations unit, testified Monday that he was tasked with collecting evidence from Potter after the shooting.

According to McGinnis, Brooklyn Center Police Department policy requires all officers to perform a "spark test" of their Taser before each shift to make sure that the device is functioning properly. McGinnis said that he examined Potter's employment records to see the last ten days she worked, and performed an electronic audit on her Taser to see when function tests were last performed on the device.

McGinnis concluded from the audit that "Officer Potter had conducted function tests, or spark tests, on her Taser six out of the ten shifts."

Potter fatally shot Wright on April 11, 2021. McGinnis testified that the last time Potter tested her Taser, according to the audit, was April 9, 2021.

Prosecutor Joshua Larson asked McGinnis if Potter failed to perform a function test of her Taser on April 10 and April 11. McGinnis answered, "Correct."

McGinnis also testified that he weighed both Potter's Taser and gun. Potter's gun weighed 2.11 lbs, and her Taser weighed .94 lbs, he said in court.

"So the Glock with the ammo weighed about over twice as much as the Taser," Larson asked. "Yes," McGinnis answered.

Larson asked McGinnis if he found it "noteworthy" in his investigation that Potter had failed to test her Taser, and McGinnis answered that it was notable. Potter's defense attorneys objected to that question, and Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu struck McGinnis' answer from the record.

Defense attorney Paul Engh also incorrectly referred to Potter's Taser as a gun twice while cross-examining McGuinnis. The agent repeatedly corrected Engh, before the defense attorney stopped himself and said, "yeah, Taser, sorry, there is a confusion here between a taser and a gun."