(MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.) — Daunte Wright’s girlfriend, Alayna Albrecht-Payton, tearfully recalled his final moments on the witness stand on day two of the trial of former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter.
Albrecht-Payton was in the passenger seat of the car when Wright was pulled over by police on April 11. She and Wright had not made their relationship official, she said, but they had been dating for a few weeks before the fatal incident.
“He was really scared — I’d never seen him like that before,” Albrecht-Payton said. “If you know Daunte, he’s really happy and positive and you can’t be sad or depressed or angry around him.”
Potter is charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Wright during a traffic stop. She has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Potter shot Wright in the chest after he escaped from the officers’ hold and scuffled with officers in the driver’s seat of the car. After being shot, Wright drove off. Albrecht-Payton said she did not remember Wright’s hands being on the wheel as they rode several blocks before swerving into another lane and crashing into another car.
Albrecht-Payton also testified that she does not remember some of what happened because she suffered from a concussion, a fractured jaw, a lacerated lip and had to get stitches on her ear from the car crash.
After they crashed, a video call from Wright’s mother came through and Albrecht-Payton said she picked up.
“I was delirious, I was just screaming, ‘they just shot him, they just shot him,'” Albrecht-Payton said.
On day one of the trial, Katie Bryant, also known as Katie Wright, recalled her version of the events: “She was screaming. I was like ‘what’s wrong?’ And she said that they shot him and she faced the phone towards the driver’s seat.”
Albrecht-Payton said she was sorry that she did so. She recalled the moments while sobbing, and prosecutor Erin Elridge continuously confirmed Albrecht-Payton’s statements.
“I hear you saying that no mom should see her son dead on the phone and you know that that hurt her and you apologize for that?” Elridge asked.
“Just dead, period, but yes,” Albrecht-Payton said.
She said Wright was gasping for air after they crashed the car and she begged him to talk to her, “I replay that image in my head daily,” Albrecht-Payton said.
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