Wright family attorney on Potter trial: ​'We can't have two systems of justice in America'

Benjamin Crump, co-counsel for the family of slain motorist Daunte Wright, speaks to Yahoo News as the jury deliberates a verdict for former Brooklyn Center, Minn. police officer Kim Potter in the killing of Wright, following a two-week trial. Crump draws parallels between the Potter case and that of Mohamed Noor, a Black former Minneapolis police officer who was found guilty in the shooting death of a white female in 2019.

Video transcript

BENJAMIN CRUMP: I'm in the courthouse with the family of Daunte Wright awaiting the verdict from the jury in the matter of the state of Minnesota versus Kim Potter, the white policewoman who shot and killed Daunte Wright, an unarmed young Black man. And this case is eerily similar to the case of Officer Mohamed Noor, a Black police officer who shot a unarmed white woman, and he was convicted in this same courthouse and sentenced to 12 years.

Now in the case of Officer Noor, he said, number one, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. It was a mistake. He cried. He was remorseful. Number two, he said the reason I did what I did was because I was trying to protect my fellow officer. I was worried about his safety. I didn't want him to get killed. Number three, they decided based on the facts that he had violated the police department policies. Now when we come to Kim Potter, her arguments are exactly analogous to what Officer Noor said.

She said, number one, I didn't mean it. I was trying to pull my taser. It was an accident. I'm sorry. I'm remorseful. And she cried. Number two, it was decided that she violated the police department policies when she used the taser with that situation during that traffic stop. And when she used the taser, she pointed it at his chest. And number three, they decided that she had violated the policies. And she said she was trying to protect her fellow officer's safety because she thought he could get killed.

So when Officer Noor said this, nobody gave him the consideration. They convicted him and sentenced him for 12 years for killing a unarmed white woman in what many believe a far worse situation than Kim Potter because it was pitch dark. They couldn't see what she was reaching for. And then you look at what happened to him, so you say, well, if it did not work for him, why should she escape culpability? We can't have two different systems of justice in America.

And all we're saying is we want equal justice for Daunte Wright. Don't change your rules when it's one of our children lying dead on the ground. That's all we're fighting for, equal justice for Daunte Wright.