Ex-officer Kim Potter breaks down on stand while testifying

Former Brooklyn Center, Minn., police officer Kim Potter, who fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright, broke down on the witness stand during in her own trial on Friday, saying she was sorry for what happened.

Erin Eldridge, assistant Minnesota Attorney General, grilled Potter over how she handled the incident on April 11 that ended with Potter fatally shooting Wright. Potter faces first-degree and second-degree manslaughter charges for allegedly killing the 20-year-old after brandishing a gun toward Wright instead of a taser.

“You’d agree that as a police officer, you have the duty to render aid and communicate information to other officers, right?” Eldridge asked Potter, who affirmed “yes.”

Eldridge continued by asking her if it was part of her job to assist those who were wounded, to communicate with other officers about what she knew about a particular scene and to give them whatever information she could to help them do their jobs to render assistance — all questions that Potter continued to answer “yes” to.

“But you didn’t do any of those things on April 11, did you?” Eldridge asked.

“No,” Potter said sadly.

“You stopped doing your job completely. You didn’t communicate what happened over the radio, right?” Eldridge asked.

“No,” Potter answered again tearfully.

“You didn’t make sure any officers knew what you had just done, right?” Eldridge continued, as Potter again answered “no.”

“You didn’t run down the street and try to save Dante Wright’s life, did you?” the prosecutor continued to asked Potter, who again answered “no.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Potter answered at one point, weeping on the witness stand as she was being cross-examined.

It is considered a risky move for the defendant to take the witness stand in their own trial because it can potentially open themselves up to certain vulnerabilities while they are being cross-examined by the prosecution.