'It Just Went Chaotic': A Weeping Kim Potter Takes the Stand

“I remember yelling, ‘Taser, Taser, Taser,’ and nothing happened and then he told me I shot him,” former Minnesota Officer Kim Potter said before she broke down into B-movie tears.

It was hard to watch as Potter, who is on trial for the fatal April 11 shooting of Daunte Wright, testified before a mostly white jury. Her mother, brother and husband were all in the courtroom to support.

According to Insider, Potter erupted into tears when it was time to give the play by play (much like Kyle Rittenhouse’s performance last month), crying through another showing of body camera footage from the incident. She told the defense attorney during questioning that she didn’t remember saying that she was going to prison.

But she did, live and on camera.

Potter wore a blouse and yellow cardigan, sans handcuffs since having posted her $100,000 bond back in April, NBC News reports. She faces up to 25 years in prison if she is convicted on first and second-degree manslaughter charges. The defense is trying to sell the story that Potter made an unfortunate mistake but still would have been within her right to use deadly force to protect another officer.

Potter testified that she had never fired a stun gun while on duty before and that most of her training focused on firearms. However, during cross-examination with the prosecution, according to NBC, she acknowledged the differences between her gun and taser as well as the different movements required to get either weapon out.

Here’s more from Insider:

The April 11 encounter involving Potter and other officers from the Brooklyn Center Police Department escalated during the traffic stop, she testified, after Wright, 20, was asked to step out of a white Buick.

Potter said she told Wright he had an outstanding warrant. It was for a weapons violation, she said.

Wright, outside of his vehicle and about to be arrested, pulled away from police and tried to get back into his car, Potter said, which prompted a struggle between Wright and then-Sgt. Mychal Johnson.

Potter testified that Wright began reaching for the gear shift.

“I can see Johnson’s hand, and then I can see his face. … He had a look of fear in his face,” Potter’s voice cracked and she began crying. “And it’s nothing I’ve seen before. We were trying to keep him from driving away. It just, it just went chaotic. … And then, I remember yelling, ‘Taser. Taser. Taser.’ And nothing happened. And then, he told me, I shot him.”

Before the deadly confrontation, Potter testified, police also learned Wright had a restraining order filed against him. Potter said it was her job to figure out if a female passenger in the car with Wright was the woman who was the subject of the order.

Potter became so distraught it prompted Judge Regina Chu to call for a lunch break. She testified for around two hours before court was adjourned for the day. The jury will reconvene on Monday.