Officer Potter charged in Daunte Wright shooting; no charges for unidentified Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt
[NOTE: Also please see the ADDENDUM below for an update on the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha.]
That was quick. The charge against Potter is second-degree manslaughter, and at the link you can see the ways in which the statute defines that crime. The only definition that seems at all applicable is the first one:
A person who causes the death of another by any of the following means is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten years or to payment of a fine of not more than $20,000, or both:
(1) by the person’s culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another…
Did Potter consciously take such a chance, in the legal sense? I have no idea how this is defined in Minnesota. Perhaps it just means that she consciously went for the taser and was negligent in locating it. If that’s the definition, Potter might want to plea and get it over with, in hopes of a reduced sentence (something that might not be offered to her, considering the politics involved).
I also have no idea whether Minnesota has a lesser charge that would have been a better fit – some other definition that involves negligence without consciously taking a chance of causing death or great bodily harm.
Was Potter overcharged due to fear of the mob? Or is this the correct charge? The situation seems (so far) to be a fairly clear-cut case of fatal error.
Contrast that to how little we still know, over three months later, about the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt at the hands of a still officially unidentified Capitol Police officer. We do know one thing, though – the officer will not be charged with anything. That was announced today:
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will not pursue charges against the U.S. Capitol Police officer who allegedly shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C., officials announced Wednesday.
An investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia determined “that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution,” the department said in a statement…
Specifically, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber,” prosecutors said.
Their evidence might be “insufficient,” but ours is almost nonexistent. And it will almost certainly remain that way. We have some videos, but no explanation of what rules the officer was following, exactly why this woman was shot and no one else, and whether the officer’s behavior conformed to those rules. We don’t know what happened curing the investigation, and we don’t know what sort of evidence would have been considered “sufficient” and what was lacking.
Nor, of course, do we know the name of the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt – unlike in all the recent cases such as Daunte Wright’s, in which officers’ identities have been released very quickly, even before the officers are charged with anything.
Maybe the dropping of charges was the right decision; maybe not. But the public hasn’t been given enough information to judge and I doubt we’ll ever get that information. The feds say they are so scared of the dangerous and violent “insurrectionists” on the right, but they certainly don’t seem particularly afraid of riots as a result of stonewalling and not pressing charges in cases such as these.
Will Ashli Babbitt’s family sue? Don’t sit on a hot stove till Ben Crump comes to their rescue.
[ADDENDUM: On the other hand, it was announced today that the officer in the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha was not charged and has been reinstated. I’ve written at length about the Blake shooting – in particular, here. Note in that post the quotes from certain state officials who rushed to judgment. I would bet that the BLM crowd will not accept today’s announcement as valid.
More:
“Officer Sheskey was not charged with any wrongdoing. He acted within the law and was consistent with training. This incident was also reviewed internally. Officer Sheskey was found to have been acting within policy and will not be subjected to discipline,” the press release stated.
Sheskey returned from administrative leave on March 31. Miskinis said some “will not be pleased with the outcome,” but that, given the facts, the “only lawful and appropriate decision was made.”
Blake – who is paralyzed but alive – has filed a civil lawsuit. Will there be a settlement, as in so many of these cases?]
I understand the Babbit family has a lawsuit in progress. That might let us deplorables know the officer’s name and history. I have heard rumors thus far. Of course, we srill do not have an autopsy report on Officer Sicknick and his body was quickly cremated lest the narrative be jeopardized.
It’s a two tier justice system, Leftists get one set of rules everyone else another, it’s the new ballgame in town. Fear of the Left is the biggest motivating factor.
The shooter is named in the ebook The Deep Rig
The Minnesota officer was probably a desk person for years and had rare occasion to use her weapon. Her confusion under the stress of a resisting felon was too much for her. Of course were are in the grip of black radicalism now so all bets on justice are off.
If Ashli was black we all know what would be happening now. Given the blatant hypocrisy between the Babbitt case and the Wright case is terms of the results, looks to me like it’s now open season on white people.
The killing of Ashli by an officer still unidentified (but, according to some online sleuthing, black) was completely without justification, while the shooting of Daunte by a seasoned veteran was clearly a terrible mistake, perhaps brought on by a moment of panic. Nevertheless, only the latter case has been racialized by the corrupt MSM and by brainless partisans on social media, all of whom are not only blinded by ideological fervor but mentally crippled by innumeracy, for it is irrefutably true that, statistically, blacks (specifically, young black males) are far more likely to be involved in violent crime, much more likely to come into contact with law enforcement, and considerably more likely to resist arrest, as well as being far more likely to kill police officers. All the disparities which now obsess the nation result from these facts.
Skip – You are so right. Witness the mainstream media reports yesterday and today on the prevalence far right extremist riots and mayhem (compared to what BLM and antifa have done).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/domestic-terrorism-data/?itid=hp-top-table-main
Here’s a nice nugget of reality. Grabbing the wrong device is rare, 18 claims in 20 years, but it’s a plausible explanation.
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/04/14/squad-members-aoc-and-cori-bush-double-down-on-crazy-over-daunte-wright-shooting-n360906
The claim that Potter mistakenly grabbed the wrong device was the 18th such claim by police officer in the U.S. in the last 20 years, according to Greg Meyer, a retired Los Angeles police officer who now researches use-of-force situations, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Potter having fired just one shot was an indication it likely was an error, Meyer told the newspaper.
“In a Taser situation, it can only fire one at a time, so when we have one of these weapons confusion cases that’s kind of the big clue,” he said.
It’s becoming clear that in legal matters there rules for the anointed and rules for the hoi polloi. Making us aware that killing us is just a minor matter but their deaths are cause for much punishment and destruction.
Before long this can lead to the way the WWII Germans treated the death of their soldiers at the hands of civilians in territory they occupied, I believe the Soviets did the same and extended it to even their own citizens, not just ones they’d conquered.
The MN statute includes the phrase “by the person’s culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk” where “person” refers to the person who is charged with 2nd degree manslaughter. It would seem to me that the “unreasonable risk” was created by Duante Wright, who while under arrest, decided to slip back into his car and attempt to flee.
Notice also that the only pictures the MsM shows are of Wright holding his child, rather than his selfies on his FB page, which show him imitating a thug, fanning benjamins like they were a full house, and pointing his .45 caliber pistol at the camera.
Ought to hear the prog justifying the shooting of Babbit. Blood thirsty ain’t in it.
The cop being threatened by a 5’2″ 110lb woman does not speak very highly of
the officer corps guarding our capital. This is a total scam, as someone commented
if she was black I am sure there would be hell to pay for this officer. Typical, total
coverup of the ID of the cowardly officer who killed the Ashli.God help our
country.
Charging Officer Porter so soon seems to be attempt to at least slow the riots. It gives them cover to say we’re on it and you will get justice.
Babbit was unarmed. She was a slight woman. There were cops with rifles right behind her and they did nothing. This no-charge decision is complete BS. Just like when Comey made his no-charge decision re: Hillary.
But the Deep State can get away with it because they know us Deplorables won’t riot and burn down K Street along with DOJ and the Hoover building.
This is a total outrage.
Hence, the difference between a “Police Officer” and one of Nancy’s hired thugs.
Welcome to the new America.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/04/report-california-public-school-teachers-being-told-to-hide-critical-race-materials-from-parents/
The chief of police and the city manager have been summarily fired and the council put the idiot mayor in charge of the police department. From his public remarks, the mayor looked at Jacob Frey’s initial response in Minneapolis and fancies that’s just the ticket here. Oh, and one of the council admitted she’d voted to fire the city manager (for saying that the officer would receive due process) because she fears attacks from Antifa.
Statements like the capitol police officer’s attorney made make me want to tear up my law degree in disgust. It would have been one thing if he had just said he believed justice had been served and left it at that. But no, he had to spike the ball in the face of Babbit’s family. No wonder people hate my profession.
The ideologically blind left fails to grasp that the only thing protecting them from righteous retribution is loyalty by the “deplorables” to the rule of law and constitutional norms.
Once enough “deplorables” conclude that there’s nothing left to save… a righteous and grievous retribution will follow.
Heads we win, tails you lose is a game with an expiration date.
Those on the left are sowing the wind that will inevitably result in them reaping the whirlwind.
Activist leftists, collaborationist CEOs and the financiers of the left are not going to enjoy 4th Generation warfare.
The irony is Shakespearean, their very lives literally rely upon the rule of law they are destroying.
I don’t know anything about how FOIA works, but at some point won’t the investigation records on the Babbit shooting be public?
My husband and I were just discussing whether there is any actual criminal liability on the officer’s part in the Duante Wright case. We are both career criminal prosecutors.
I don’t see any evidence so far of criminal liability. IMO, this was a true accident; a mistake made in the heat of an adrenaline rush. There is no person immune to the effects of adrenaline, and no training that can eliminate the confusion and tunnel-vision that results from being suddenly thrust into a life-or-death situation.
I think this situation appears to be exactly analogous to a driver who, in a panic from a dangerous situation, accidentally hits the accelerator instead of the brakes. There is no negligence there; no (conscious) disregarding of a risk to others.
Perhaps manslaughter charges could lie if there was evidence of the officer refusing to follow procedure or being negligent beforehand, but that seems really unlikely. For instance, if she was trained to carry her Taser on the non-dominant hand side, but she knowingly holstered it on the same side of her gun instead.
Rufus – “I don’t know anything about how FOIA works, but at some point won’t the investigation records on the Babbit shooting be public?”
What we have discovered in the past 20 years is that if the Bureaucracy doesn’t want to divulge they will delay and give incomplete responses. The Clinton’s raised it to an art form that continues today. Look at the documents on the Russia Hoax. You can’t read half of it. Delay after delay even after court orders.
So don’t hold your breathe even if you are Harry Houdini.
The way to fix this is laying out clear rules of what can be classified and if the person (not the organization) violates it they become civilly liable. It would take a real kick ass leader to make it happen.
There are many facts about the Blake case that haven’t made it into the general public discussion. I’d love to know more, but here’s what I have read:
Blake came to some sort of gathering involving his ex (the victim he digitally raped) and family—I think it was a birthday party for one of the kids. He may have been invited (!). But once there, right on cue, he began to act out and cause trouble. The ex called police. Blake then took the keys to the van, which had been rented by the ex. Somehow the kids were strapped into the van. It was very clear that he did not have any right to the van or to the custody of the kids.
So, he was in the process of stealing the van and violating custody/kidnapping the kids when the police engaged with him. I guess they should have just let this violent rapist drive off in a rage with kids in the vehicle.
RigelDog:
That’s pretty much what I wrote about in this post. There are links there, too, that go into some of the details. Later on I believe it came out that Blake had a knife in his hand and still had it in his hand when he went to the car.
On fear and a two-tiered justice system: https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/12/good-people-must-be-dangerous-people/
@bill-o:
A good argument in the argument you link.
If the Good Whites ™ don’t harden up and develop some self-confidence stat then they ought not complain later if some Really Bad Whites step up to do the very necessary dirty work which needs must be done. We’re going through a crisis of lack of civilizational / racial confidence and displaying cowardice which our enemies without and within take advantage of. A Stitch in Time Saves Nine.
@bill
That is a good read. I own a shotgun but have no shells. Today I will remedy that.
You never know when a gator will show up in your back yard.
@jack:
The other day was watching a YouTube video of some Deplorable Reprobate dispatching feral hogs with shotgun slugs out the side of a helicopter… Porkopalypse Now. The whole thing was in extremely poor taste. Needless to say I loved it. I should have been born in Texas, but must have sinned too much in a previous life to deserve it.
Shotguns have a certain authoritative directness about them. I reckon the unmistakable sound of one being racked must see 99.9% of intruders skedaddling quick fast. Will be interested to hear how you go buying shells because there is much talk of ammo shortage on blogs like Bayou Renaissance Man, Big Country Expat, Racounteur Report, etc.
No shortage here. I can name 10 places to buy shells/guns whatever you want within 20 miles.
And yes the sound of a shell pumped into the chamber it can be rather intimidating.
This is Texas!
Speaking of who is buying guns and ammunition the most.
https://www.openthebooks.com/assets/1/6/Militarization_Report_v5.pdf
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION?
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART?
WTH!
^^ Yep.. I can remember Jerry Pournelle wondering out loud a decade or so ago why the US Department of Education needed a paramilitary detachment. It’s nuts.
On trips back to Australia in more recent years I’ve noticed that police uniforms and equipment have gotten much more paramilitary-looking. This despite the general population being disarmed/unarmed. Needless to say this kind of fancy dress kit has an affect on police-public relations in both directions. I was going to say police-citizen but truly it’s rather more like police-subject these days.
jack, I could see art galleries wanting to arm up these days. I’ve asked myself a number of times how long it’ll be before ‘protesters’ smash their way into the Metropolitan Museum, for example. I took a look at that report to which you linked, and it’s rather interesting.
Babbitt wasn’t black so her death doesn’t count.