?A badge and a gun is not a license to kill?: Kim Potter trial in closing arguments

A prosecutor told jurors on Monday Kim Potter, the suburban Minneapolis police officer who says she meant to use her Taser instead of her gun when she shot and killed the Black motorist Daunte Wright, knew what she did was wrong and that she did not have "a license to kill".

Prosecutor Erin Eldridge said in closing arguments in Potter's manslaughter trial that the former Brooklyn Center police officer was a "highly trained" and "highly experienced" 26-year veteran who acted recklessly.

"She drew a deadly weapon," Eldridge told the court. "She aimed it. She pointed it at Daunte Wright's chest, and she fired."

Although there is a risk every time an officer makes traffic stop, that didn't justify Potter using her gun on Wright after he pulled away from her and other officers on 11 April as they were trying to arrest him on an outstanding weapons possession warrant, Eldridge said.

"Carrying a badge and a gun is not a license to kill," she said.

During his closing argument, Potter's attorney, Earl Gray, said Wright "caused the whole incident" because he tried to flee from police during a traffic stop.

Potter mistakenly grabbed her gun because the stop "was chaos", he said, adding that Potter didn't know she was holding her gun.