Actor Alec Baldwin and former Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer Kim Potter have one major life-
changing event in common: each accidentally shot and killed an individual. But that is where the commonality ends.
Although Baldwin has gotten some media blowback given his role as both shooter and producer, a good deal of the coverage has been sympathetic. Much of the blame has fallen on the teenybopper armorer, and some have even suggested a cryptic bullet swap by some unknown Trump supporter. To be sure, Baldwin will spend considerable time in court, more civil than criminal, but it is unlikely he will spend a night in jail.
After a few furious days in April 2021, Potter has received little media attention beyond Minnesota, almost none of it sympathetic. She is facing as much as 15 years in prison and, if Derek Chauvin’s 22-year sentence is any guide, she will likely serve a good chunk of it.
It was in April that Potter shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright. Without intending, the Washington Post’s Kim Bellware explained in simple black and white why Potter has been treated more coldly than Baldwin. “Police claim Potter, who is White,” wrote Bellware, “mistook her service weapon for a Taser when she fired at Wright, who is Black.”
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