Paramedic testifies that Daunte Wright had no pulse when he arrived, girlfriend had 'blood coming from her mouth'

• Dustin Johnson is a paramedic with North Memorial Health in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
• He was one of the first responders to the scene when Daunte Wright was killed in April 2021.

One of the paramedics who responded to the shooting of Daunte Wright testified Thursday that the victim had no pulse when he arrived.

Dustin Johnson, a former Army combat medic, said he arrived at the scene and saw police performing CPR on Wright, who was shot by former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter in April 2021.

Johnson testified that by the time he and his partner arrived at the scene, it was already too late. Asked by the prosecution if either he or police detected a pulse or any signs of life, Johnson responded: "I did not and from what I understand they did not as well."

The testimony came hours after Alayna Albrecht-Payton, Wright's girlfriend, took the stand. She testified that she had tried to place a piece of cloth to plug Wright's chest wound, saying she "was the only one out of everybody there that was trying to help him."

Johnson said that he encountered Albrecht-Payton in the back of a police cruiser, where he feared she may too have been struck by a bullet.

"She was in tears and I saw some blood coming from her mouth and also to the left side of her ear, and she was in handcuffs," he testified.

Potter, who resigned from the Minnesota police force after the shooting, is on trial for first- and second-degree manslaughter for the killing of Wright during a traffic stop. She has claimed the incident was the result of mistakenly grabbing her gun instead of a Taser.

The trial resumes Friday.

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