The Daunte Wright shooting was no accident, prosecutors argue as ex-cop Kim Potter's manslaughter trial wraps up

• Prosecutors gave their closing argument Monday in former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter's manslaughter trial.
• "This was no little oopsie," prosecutor Erin Eldridge said of Potter fatally shooting Daunte Wright.

Daunte Wright's shooting death was the result of Minnesota police officer Kim Potter's negligence and recklessness, and was not an accident, the prosecution argued Monday in its closing statement.

Potter, who later resigned and is being tried on first -and second-degree manslaughter charges, has said that she intended to grab her Taser instead of her gun when she shot Wright during an April traffic stop. Body-camera footage of the shooting played for jurors shows Potter shouting, "Taser! Taser! Taser!" before shooting Wright in the chest while he tried to sit down in the driver's seat of his car.

"This was no little oopsie," prosecutor Erin Eldridge told the jury. "This was not putting the wrong date on a check."

Potter's defense had argued earlier in the trial that the officer made an "action error" when drawing her Taser instead of her gun. The defense called a psychology expert who testified that action errors — like writing the date incorrectly when signing a check after the turn of a new year — have nothing to do with "outside interference, willful neglect, or conscious manipulation."

Eldridge told jurors that Potter's defense was trying sell them on the idea "that this was somehow an accident and not a crime, and that is simply not the case."

"Accidents can still be crimes if they occur as the result of recklessness or culpable negligence," Eldridge said.

The prosecutor repeatedly reminded jurors that the state did not need to prove that Potter intended to kill Wright, only that she was reckless and negligent, and that her actions led to his death.

Potter's first-degree manslaughter charge, dealing with recklessness, carries a penalty of 15 years; the second-degree manslaughter charge, dealing with culpable negligence, carries a 10-year sentence.

On Friday, Potter broke down in tears on the witness stand after Eldridge played body-camera footage of the shooting and questioned the former officer about why she didn't try to help Wright after he was shot.

"I'm sorry it happened!" a sobbing Potter yelled out while under cross-examination.

Eldridge reminded the jury during closing arguments that "this case is not about whether the defendant is sorry or whether she's remorseful."

"Good people can commit crimes," Eldridge told the jury.