Crime & Safety
Who Is Erin Eldridge, Prosecuting Attorney In Kim Potter Trial
Erin Eldridge gave the opening statement for the state in the manslaughter trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Erin Eldridge kicked off the prosecution's case against former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter Wednesday.
Potter, 48, faces first and second-degree manslaughter charges in the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop.
If convicted of first-degree manslaughter, Potter faces up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. Second-degree manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
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In a video of the shooting, which readers should be warned is extremely graphic, Potter yells, "Taser! Taser!" before yelling,"I shot him!" Potter appears to have mistaken her loaded firearm for her electroshock weapon.
The video was shown in court Wednesday.
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"We trust them to know wrong from right and left from right," Eldridge said of police officers in her opening statement.
She added that the case is about "an officer who knew not to get it dead wrong, but she failed to get it right." Potter betrayed her position of public trust, Eldridge said.
Who is Erin Eldridge?
Erin Eldridge was hired as assistant attorney general in Minnesota in 2018. Eldridge is paid by the state $52.30 an hour, according to public payroll data from 2020.
Previously, Eldridge worked for the federal government after she was appointed as Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in Nebraska.
"As a Tribal SAUSA, she maintains an active domestic violence caseload, which includes federal strangulation/suffocation, habitual offender, sexual assault, and child sexual assault crimes as well as tribal domestic violence offenses," reads a federal report from 2016.
"She spends a significant amount of time on all three Native American reservations and regularly appears in Winnebago Tribal Court."
Eldridge was one of the prosecuting attorneys in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd.
Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this story
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