The woman who was in the vehicle with Daunte Wright when he was shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer is suing both the former official who killed him and the city, AP News reports.
Alayna Albrecht-Payton was physically injured following the car crash that occurred after Kim Potter fatally shot Wright.
The 21-year-old says that she has also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after watching Wright pass away after he was struck by a bullet in the vehicle that they were traveling in on April 11, 2021.
Potter alleged that she mistook her firearm for her taser when she shot and killed Wright during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center. He was only 20 years old.
“Albrecht-Payton was a blameless witness to a horribly traumatic event, which a lot of people heard her testify to in the felony trial,” said her attorney Kathryn Bennett. “And she has suffered some significant and permanent injuries, including the broken jaw and the cuts, and just scared inside and out from this event.”
As previously reported by REVOLT, Potter was convicted of first and second-degree manslaughter for Wright’s death and received a sentence of two years in prison.
Last month, the Brooklyn Center agreed to pay a $3.2 million settlement to the young man’s family. Following Wright’s death, the Brooklyn Center City Council also passed a series of reforms, which includes the use of social workers and other licensed and/or trained professionals to respond to medical, mental health, and social needs calls instead of the police.
In her lawsuit, Albrecht-Payton requests $150,000 in damages. After the shooting, the young woman had to undergo surgery for a broken jaw and currently struggles with the injury and teeth misalignment.
Potter’s attorneys say they “are unable to say much other than we are in the process of reviewing Ms. Albrecht-Payton’s medical records and evaluating our legal defenses.”