Rookie cop testifies that Daunte Wright did not reach for a gun or make any threatening moves before he was shot by ex-officer

• Officer Anthony Luckey was the officer who decided to pull over Daunte Wright.
• He was being trained that day by former Brooklyn Center Officer Kimberly Potter, who has since been fired.

The Brooklyn Center Police officer, who was training with ex-cop Kimberly Potter on the day she shot and killed Daunte Wright, testified Wednesday that he never saw the victim reach for a gun or make any threatening moves against an officer. Officer Anthony Luckey was called as the state's second witness; Wright's mom also testified on Wednesday.

The testimony came on the opening day of Potter's trial. The former Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer is facing charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter for killing Wright, a Black man, after saying she mistakenly grabbed her gun instead of a Taser during a traffic stop. She resigned from the force after the shooting.

In April 2021, officers pulled Wright over and during the traffic stop discovered he had an outstanding arrest warrant for a weapons charge. According to body camera footage of the stop, while trying to detain him, Wright breaks free and gets into his car. The word "Taser" is repeated before Wright is shot.

Officer Luckey testified that he was the one who decided to pull over Wright. During cross-examination, he testified that he had an "intuition" to pull him over because of "the behavior of the vehicle," including that it had its right-blinker on while in a left turning lane, and the fact he was driving in a "high crime area" that is "known for a lot of shootings."

In response to a question from Matthew Frank, the assistant Minnesota attorney general who also led the prosecution of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin, Luckey affirmed that Wright never reached for a weapon, never struck him, and that neither Wright nor the woman in the passenger seat made any threatening moves.

That admission came after the defense sought to portray Potter's decision to reach for a weapon as a justifiable attempt to protect her fellow cops' safety and prevent Wright from potentially injuring them in an attempt to flee the scene in his vehicle.

The trial resumes Thursday.

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