National

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 793,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Just 60.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Dec 09, 9:30 am
US processing 1 million PCR tests per day

The U.S. is processing 1 million PCR tests each day, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton during an interview Wednesday at the CDC’s Emergency Operation Center.

“That gives us a really good window as to test positivity,” Walensky said. “It also gives us the samples we need in order to sequence, because we can’t sequence from a rapid test.”

“The rapid tests, I think, have another important role, and that is to empower people to help make smart decisions,” Walensky said. “Don’t do a test that you’re not going to do anything with the information. Most people now who do a rapid test are doing so either to protect themselves or somebody who they’re about to go see or some family member. And so they are generally motivated, I would say, to do the right thing with the result.”

-ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss, Sony Salzman

Dec 09, 5:57 am
Omicron spreads but severe cases remain low in South Africa, WHO says

The World Health Organization said Thursday that preliminary data indicates hospitalizations in South Africa remain low, offering “signs of hope,” despite the fact that the omicron variant is spreading rapidly and weekly COVID-19 cases on the African continent have surged by 93%.

In the week ending on Dec. 5, southern Africa recorded a 140% hike in COVID-19 cases, the highest of any region on the continent for that period, mainly driven by an uptick in South Africa, according to the WHO. While researchers are still working to determine whether omicron is fueling the surge, the WHO said that emerging data from South Africa indicates the new variant may cause less severe illness. Data on COVID-19 hospitalizations across South Africa between Nov. 14 and Dec. 4 show that intensive care unit occupancy was only 6.3%, which the WHO said is very low compared with the same period when the country was facing the peak linked to the delta variant in July.

Furthermore, data from the same two-week period from one of the South African health districts most impacted by omicron show that out of more than 1,200 hospital admissions related to COVID-19, there were 98 patients receiving supplemental oxygen and only four on ventilators. The WHO cautioned that the data is “very preliminary with a small sample size and most of the people admitted to the health facilities were under the age of 40.”

Since omicron was first identified in southern Africa in November, confirmed cases of the variant have been reported in 57 countries around the world. In an effort to prevent the spread of the new variant, more than 70 countries have imposed travel bans that are mainly targeting southern African nations, some of which have yet to report any omicron cases, according to the WHO.

“With Omicron now present in nearly 60 countries globally, travel bans that mainly target African countries are hard to justify,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement Thursday. “Through the diligent surveillance efforts of African scientists, the new variant of concern was first detected on this continent, but it’s unclear if transmission was taking place silently in other regions. We call for science-based public health measures to counter the spread of COVID-19. The travel restrictions come at the height of the end-of-year tourist season, ravaging Africa’s economies, with a knock-on impact that is potentially devastating to the health of Africans.”

Dec 08, 9:44 pm
FDA authorizes antibody cocktail for use before COVID-19 exposure

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the first monoclonal antibody therapy for use before COVID-19 exposure.

AstraZeneca’s Evusheld antibody cocktail can now be given to certain people for preventative use against the virus, including those who are moderately to severely immunocomromised due to a medical condition or medication, and those who have a history of severe adverse reactions to a COVID-19 vaccine. People also must not be currently infected with COVID-19 or have been recently exposed to the virus.

In a recent Phase III clinical trial, AstraZeneca found that the therapy reduced the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 infections by 83% in people who did not have the virus, had not been exposed to it and were unvaccinated, when compared to the placebo group.

AstraZeneca told ABC News it is testing the product against the new omicron variant and is “hopeful” that it will hold up against it. Results are expected to become available “within weeks,” the company said. So far, Evusheld has been found to neutralize all previous COVID-19 variants of concern, it said.

AstraZeneca said it has agreed to supply the U.S. government with 700,000 doses of Evusheld, which will be distributed to states and territories at no cost and on a pro-rata basis.

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

Dec 08, 9:40 pm
New Hampshire deploying National Guard to hospitals amid surge

New Hampshire will be deploying National Guard members to hospitals statewide to provide support as the state sees a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, Gov. Chris Sununu announced Wednesday.

Seventy members will be deployed in the coming week and assist with food service and clerical work, officials said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will also be sending a team of 30 paramedics to help the hospitals with the highest COVID-19 burdens, the governor said.

There are 462 current COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state, the highest since the pandemic began.

Dec 08, 8:48 pm
Senate votes to repeal Biden mandate; won’t affect rule due to objection in House

The Senate passed a repeal of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate on private businesses with over 100 employees by a vote of 52-48 Wednesday night, but the mandate is not threatened due to opposition in the Democrat-controlled House.

Two Democrats crossed party lines and voted with Republicans to repeal the mandate. The votes cast by Sens. Joe Manchin, . and Jon Tester, D-Mont., were expected.

While the legislation has now passed the Senate, it will almost certainly not impact the mandate.

It’s unclear if the Senate-passed repeal will even be brought up in the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not required to bring it up for a floor vote, and at least 218 signatures would be needed to force consideration. Even then, if the House were to pass it, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that Biden would veto it should it land on his desk.

The mandate faces stiffer opposition in ongoing legal challenges from several Republican-led states.

-ABC News’ Allie Pecorin

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.2 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 793,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Just 60.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Dec 09, 5:57 am
Omicron spreads but severe cases remain low in South Africa, WHO says

The World Health Organization said Thursday that preliminary data indicates hospitalizations in South Africa remain low, offering “signs of hope,” despite the fact that the omicron variant is spreading rapidly and weekly COVID-19 cases on the African continent have surged by 93%.

In the week ending on Dec. 5, southern Africa recorded a 140% hike in COVID-19 cases, the highest of any region on the continent for that period, mainly driven by an uptick in South Africa, according to the WHO. While researchers are still working to determine whether omicron is fueling the surge, the WHO said that emerging data from South Africa indicates the new variant may cause less severe illness. Data on COVID-19 hospitalizations across South Africa between Nov. 14 and Dec. 4 show that intensive care unit occupancy was only 6.3%, which the WHO said is very low compared with the same period when the country was facing the peak linked to the delta variant in July.

Furthermore, data from the same two-week period from one of the South African health districts most impacted by omicron show that out of more than 1,200 hospital admissions related to COVID-19, there were 98 patients receiving supplemental oxygen and only four on ventilators. The WHO cautioned that the data is “very preliminary with a small sample size and most of the people admitted to the health facilities were under the age of 40.”

Since omicron was first identified in southern Africa in November, confirmed cases of the variant have been reported in 57 countries around the world. In an effort to prevent the spread of the new variant, more than 70 countries have imposed travel bans that are mainly targeting southern African nations, some of which have yet to report any omicron cases, according to the WHO.

“With Omicron now present in nearly 60 countries globally, travel bans that mainly target African countries are hard to justify,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement Thursday. “Through the diligent surveillance efforts of African scientists, the new variant of concern was first detected on this continent, but it’s unclear if transmission was taking place silently in other regions. We call for science-based public health measures to counter the spread of COVID-19. The travel restrictions come at the height of the end-of-year tourist season, ravaging Africa’s economies, with a knock-on impact that is potentially devastating to the health of Africans.”

Dec 08, 9:44 pm
FDA authorizes antibody cocktail for use before COVID-19 exposure

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the first monoclonal antibody therapy for use before COVID-19 exposure.

AstraZeneca’s Evusheld antibody cocktail can now be given to certain people for preventative use against the virus, including those who are moderately to severely immunocomromised due to a medical condition or medication, and those who have a history of severe adverse reactions to a COVID-19 vaccine. People also must not be currently infected with COVID-19 or have been recently exposed to the virus.

In a recent Phase III clinical trial, AstraZeneca found that the therapy reduced the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 infections by 83% in people who did not have the virus, had not been exposed to it and were unvaccinated, when compared to the placebo group.

AstraZeneca told ABC News it is testing the product against the new omicron variant and is “hopeful” that it will hold up against it. Results are expected to become available “within weeks,” the company said. So far, Evusheld has been found to neutralize all previous COVID-19 variants of concern, it said.

AstraZeneca said it has agreed to supply the U.S. government with 700,000 doses of Evusheld, which will be distributed to states and territories at no cost and on a pro-rata basis.

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

Dec 08, 9:40 pm
New Hampshire deploying National Guard to hospitals amid surge

New Hampshire will be deploying National Guard members to hospitals statewide to provide support as the state sees a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, Gov. Chris Sununu announced Wednesday.

Seventy members will be deployed in the coming week and assist with food service and clerical work, officials said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will also be sending a team of 30 paramedics to help the hospitals with the highest COVID-19 burdens, the governor said.

There are 462 current COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state, the highest since the pandemic began.

Dec 08, 8:48 pm
Senate votes to repeal Biden mandate; won’t affect rule due to objection in House

The Senate passed a repeal of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate on private businesses with over 100 employees by a vote of 52-48 Wednesday night, but the mandate is not threatened due to opposition in the Democrat-controlled House.

Two Democrats crossed party lines and voted with Republicans to repeal the mandate. The votes cast by Sens. Joe Manchin, . and Jon Tester, D-Mont., were expected.

While the legislation has now passed the Senate, it will almost certainly not impact the mandate.

It’s unclear if the Senate-passed repeal will even be brought up in the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not required to bring it up for a floor vote, and at least 218 signatures would be needed to force consideration. Even then, if the House were to pass it, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that Biden would veto it should it land on his desk.

The mandate faces stiffer opposition in ongoing legal challenges from several Republican-led states.

-ABC News’ Allie Pecorin

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WORCESTER, Mass.) — Despite having one of the nation’s highest vaccination rates, Massachusetts is in the midst of a full coronavirus resurgence. The state’s daily case average is now at its highest point in nearly a year, and in the last month alone, new hospital admissions have more than doubled.

In central Massachusetts, the UMass Memorial Health System is, once again, completely overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

“We, right now, have more patients in the hospital, overall, than we have had at either of the two peaks previously. You come in one day and you say this is the worst we’ve ever seen it and you come back the next day and it’s even worse. This is very concerning, what’s going on right now,” UMass Memorial Health Care President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson told during an interview ABC News Wednesday.

According to Dickson, many of the hospitals in the UMass Memorial health care system are currently at-capacity.

At UMass Memorial Medical Center, all 450 beds, which are typically available, are full. There are 75 patients waiting in the ER for a bed, including seven ICU patients.

“We’re running at more than 120% of capacity right now,” Dickson said. “There’s really no end in sight, which is the scary part for all of us.”

The health system’s latest surge is the result of the delta variant, said Dickson, who added that although the health system is actively sequencing patients, the omicron variant has yet to be detected in the patient population.

On top of the “intense pressure” and significant increase in COVID-19 patients overwhelming health care workers, hospitals are also seeing an increase in winter trauma-related incidents, such as slips, heart attacks and strokes.

“It’s really the perfect storm for a bed crisis,” Dickson added.

A strike among workers, in one of the hospitals in Worcester, has forced 100 beds offline, thus further reducing hospital capacity, while staffing shortages have greatly exacerbated the health care system’s struggle.

“You can’t imagine how exhausted caregivers are right now,” Dickson said. “The biggest challenge for us right now is that our people are extremely, extremely fatigued. This is their third surge over the course of about 20 months, and that’s really taking a toll on them.”

In addition, compounding its woes, UMass Memorial Health was forced to fire 200 employees last week after they refused to get vaccinated.

“We’ve got a problem getting patients out of the hospital, because there’s no staff in the nursing homes and they’re dealing with shortages,” Dickson said.

Dickson explained that he is greatly concerned by the fact that a state like Massachusetts, with more than 72% of its total population fully vaccinated, could be experiencing such a significant surge.

“This pandemic is clearly not over,” Dickson said. “This is really the toughest period of this whole pandemic right now for some of us,” adding that he was “extremely concerned” about the health system capacity to handle potential increases in people needing care, over the next several weeks and months.

The rest of the upcoming winter holidays also continue to be a major source of concern for Dickson and his teams, who saw a “big bump” in test positive cases and hospitalizations following Thanksgiving.

“Now you have a higher starting point, and you’re going to add Christmas and New Year’s on top of that. It really could get bad into mid January, and that’s what we’re most concerned about. We’re holding on right now, today. But if this keeps on going up for the next five, six weeks, I’m not quite sure where we’re going to get everyone in,” he said.

Although the majority — between 60 and 75% — of patients currently under care are unvaccinated, hospital officials have seen the impact of waning immunity over time.

“We even have some breakthrough cases of people that have received the booster, so there’s definitely a waning of the immunity over time, but it’s still your best protection is getting your COVID vaccine and then getting a booster,” Dickson said.

Ultimately, it is critical for all residents to do their best to slow the rise in infections by getting vaccinated and boosted, and by following important mitigation strategies to control the spread, Dickson said.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.) — The trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter kicked off on Wednesday. Potter is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop earlier this year.

Two witnesses for the prosecution were in the spotligjht on Day 1: Daunte Wright’s mother, Katie Bryant, and Brooklyn Center police officer Anthony Luckey.

Here’s the rundown of Day 1:

Potter’s training scrutinized in the courtroom

Erin Eldridge, a prosecutor with the Minnesota assistant attorney general’s office, presented the state’s case against Potter during the opening statements.

Eldridge read the oath that Brooklyn Center officers take to the jury: “I will never betray my badge, my integrity. my character, or the public interest. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions.”

Eldridge told jurors that police officers “have the responsibility to be mindful and attentive and acutely aware of the weapons that they carry, and the risks associated with those weapons,” targeting Potter’s defense that claims Potter had meant to grab her stun gun instead of her firearm when she fatally shot Daunte Wright.

“When it comes to those weapons, they have the responsibility to carry those weapons, and use those weapons appropriately,” Eldridge added.

Eldridge told the jury that they’ll hear evidence regarding stun gun and firearm training that Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center police department, would have had.

Potter carried her weapons on her belt in the same way every day on the job, Eldridge told the jury, and that she wore her firearm on her dominant, right-hand side and her stun gun on her non-dominant, left side.

Potter was a 26-year veteran of the department.

Potter’s defense maintains that she accidentally shot Wright with her firearm when she meant to shoot him with her stun gun.

“She was also trained about the risks of pulling the wrong weapon and that drawing and firing the wrong weapon could kill someone,” Eldridge said. “She was trained to carry her weapons in this way. And she was trained on how to use them and how not to use them.”

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank later questioned Brooklyn Center Police Officer Anthony Luckey, who was at the fatal April 11 incident. He is the state’s second witness and was questioned on handgun and stun gun training.

“The policy was opposite side of your duty firearm,” Luckey said on the stand about Brooklyn Center police training. “That way, officers do not get their firearms confused with their Tasers.”

Luckey said that officers practice drawing the stun guns, go through slideshow lessons and perform continuous hands-on training regarding their weapons. They also go through training as not to confuse their weapons, he said.

Potter’s second-degree charge alleges that Potter acted with “culpable negligence” in Wright’s death.

The first-degree charge alleges that Wright’s death happened while Potter recklessly handled a gun, causing the death to be reasonably foreseeable. An intent to kill is not required in either charge.

‘An error can happen’: Potter defense argued

In the opening statements, the defense said it plans on introducing Dr. Laurence Miller, a psychologist, to testify about traumatic incidents, police work and action errors, which defense attorney Paul Engh said will be “about how it is that we do one thing while meaning to do another.”

Engh gave examples of common mistakes to the jury — including writing the wrong date down or putting in an old password into a computer — that are considered “action errors,” a term he urged the jury to remember.

“They are ordinarily dismissible, but they become quite important when what happens is catastrophic,” Engh said.

“Dr. Miller will tell you in times of chaos, acute stress decisions have to be made when there is no time for reflection,” he added. “What happens in these high catastrophic instances is that the habits that are ingrained, the training that’s ingrained takes over. In these chaotic situations, the historic training is applied and the newer training is discounted.”

Engh said that stun guns have only been available in the last 10 years to the department and this is a brand new stun gun, “whereas, by comparison, Potter has 26 years of gun training. And an error can happen.”

Wright’s mother gives tearful testimony

Katie Wright, who is testifying under the name Katie Bryant, told jurors about the final call she had with her son. She recalled him saying that he had an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror and said he was stopped by police for it.

She also recalled intimate details of Wright’s life. “He was funny, he was a jokester. He liked to make everybody laugh. He had a smile that lit up a room. He was amazing,” she said on the stand.

He had just enrolled in a trade school and planned on pursuing carpentry, she said, and that his son, Daunte Jr., is now two years old.

The jury was shown photos of Wright and his son.

“He was very proud to be a father,” Bryant said. “He was also worried that just because he was premature about him sleeping and he could sleep a lot as a premature baby and he was really worried about that. He would play with him, he would do everything that a father needs to do for his child.”

“He was an amazing dad,” she added.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MINNEAPOLIS) — The trial of former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter charged in the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was fatally shot during a traffic stop, begins Wednesday.

Opening statements will take place in the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Potter, 49, is charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the April 11 incident. She has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Potter has said she meant to grab her stun gun, but accidentally shot her firearm instead when she and other officers were attempting to arrest Wright, who had escaped the officers’ grip and was scuffling with them when he was shot.

Wright was initially pulled over for an expired registration tag on his car, but officers discovered he had an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge and tried to detain him, according to former Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon.

Potter was first indicted on a second-degree manslaughter charge, which alleges that she acted with “culpable negligence” in Wright’s death. A first-degree manslaughter count was later added. Prosecutors say that Potter caused Wright’s death while recklessly handling a gun, causing the death to be reasonably foreseeable.

An intent to kill is not required in either charge.

The maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years and a $30,000 fine and for second-degree manslaughter, it’s 10 years and a $20,000 fine.

Potter resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department two days after the incident.

The jury of 12 jurors and two alternates in the racially charged case is composed of 11 white jurors, one Black juror and two jurors of Asian descent.

Wright’s death reignited protests against racism and police brutality across the U.S., as the killing took place just outside of Minneapolis, where the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, was taking place.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Dec 08, 6:49 pm
New body-cam footage shows Potter moments after shooting Wright

New body-worn camera footage played in the courtroom while the prosecution questioned Brooklyn Center officer Anthony Luckey showed the moments after Kim Potter shot Daunte Wright.

In the video, taken from Luckey’s body-worn camera, Potter can be seen falling to the curb.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” she said, before hyperventilating for several minutes with her face buried in the grass.

Luckey’s and Sgt. Mychal Johnson’s arms can be seen reaching down to Potter.

“Just breathe,” Luckey can be heard saying.

“I’m going to go to prison,” Potter said.

“No, you’re not,” Luckey said.

“Kim, that guy was trying to take off with me in the car!” Johnson said in the video.

Potter then sat up on the grass and repeatedly said, “Oh my God,” as her colleagues waved traffic by and discussed shutting down the street.

Court has wrapped for the day and will resume at 9 a.m. local time Thursday.

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

Dec 08, 5:23 pm

Massachusetts hospital running at 120% capacity

Massachusetts is facing a surge, even though more than 72% of the state’s total population is fully vaccinated. The state’s daily case average is at its highest point in nearly a year and new hospital admissions have more than doubled in the last month.

In central Massachusetts, the UMass Memorial Health System is seeing more patients than at any other point in the pandemic.

At UMass Memorial Medical Center, all 450 beds are full and 75 patients were waiting in the ER Wednesday for a bed, including seven ICU patients. Between 60% and 75% of the patients aren’t vaccinated.

“This is the worst we’ve ever seen it,” UMass Memorial Health Care president and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson told ABC News Wednesday. “We’re running at more than 120% of capacity right now,”

Dickson said he is “extremely concerned” about how the health system will handle potential increases over the next several weeks and months.

“We’re holding on right now today. But if this keeps on going up for the next five, six weeks, I’m not quite sure where we’re going to get everyone in,” Dickson said.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 08, 3:28 pm

Daunte Wright’s mother recalls final phone call with son

Katie Wright, testifying under the name Katie Bryant, told jurors about the final call she had with her son. She recalled him saying that he had an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror and said he was stopped by police for it.

She told him to take it down and he said he already had.

He said that they were asking about insurance information, and she told him to hand the phone to the officer when he came to the window because the car was not protected by any insurance.

“He just sounded really nervous, but I reassured him that it would be okay,” she said. 
* *
She heard the police come back to the window, ask Daunte to step out of the vehicle and she heard him ask what he was in trouble for.

She heard a voice tell Daunte to put the phone down and hang up the phone, and heard Duante and the officers begin to scuffle. She said she was then disconnected.

“I was panicked. I called back, it seemed like 100 times but I believe was probably maybe four or five times and I kept calling so finally FaceTimed,” Bryant said. “I don’t know how much time lapsed, maybe a minute or two, and a female, [his girlfriend], answered the phone.”

“She was screaming. I was like, ‘what’s wrong?’ And she said that they shot him and she faced the phone toward the driver’s seat. My son was laying there. He was unresponsive and I heard somebody say ‘hang up the phone again,'” she tearfully recalled.

Dec 08, 2:54 pm

Daunte Wright’s mother is 1st prosecution witness on stand

Katie Wright, testifying under the name of Katie Bryant, is the first witness to take the stand in the trial of Kim Potter who fatally shot her son, Daunte Wright.

Daunte was Katie and Aubrey Wright’s first child together.

She recalled intimate details of Daunte’s life: “He was funny, he was a jokester. He liked to make everybody laugh. He had a smile that lit up a room. He was amazing.”

He had just enrolled in a trade school and planned on pursuing carpentry, she said, and that Daunte’s son, Daunte Jr., is now two years old.

The jury is being shown photos of Daunte, his son and his family. Daunte was shown taking care of his son, who Katie said was born prematurely and was in the hospital for several months.

“He was very proud to be a father,” Katie said. “He was also worried that just because he was premature about him sleeping and he could sleep a lot as a premature baby and he was really worried about that. He would play with him, he would do everything that a father needs to do for his child.”

“He was an amazing dad,” she added.

Dec 08, 2:05 pm

‘An error can happen,’ argues Potter defense

The defense said it plans on introducing Dr. Laurence Miller, a psychologist, to testify about traumatic incidents, police work and action errors, which defense attorney Paul Engh said will be “about how it is that we do one thing while meaning to do another.”

The defense is arguing that the fatal shooting was an accident and that Kim Potter meant to reach for her stun gun and not her firearm when she shot Daunte Wright in the chest.

Engh gave examples of common mistakes to the jury — including writing the wrong date down or putting in an old password into a computer.

“They are ordinarily dismissible, but they become quite important when what happens is catastrophic,” Engh said.

“Dr. Miller will tell you in times of chaos, acute stress decisions have to be made when there is no time for reflection,” he added. “What happens in these high catastrophic instances is that the habits that are ingrained, the training that’s ingrained takes over. In these chaotic situations, the historic training is applied and the newer training is discounted.”

Engh said that stun guns have only been available in the last 10 years to the department and this is a brand new stun gun, “whereas, by comparison, Potter has 26 years of gun training. And an error can happen.”

Dec 08, 1:26 pm

Potter wanted to help domestic abuse victims, her defense says about her career

Defense attorney Paul Engh told the jury details about former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter, who has pursued a career in law enforcement since she was a teenager in high school.

Engh said that Potter got a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology, and started her career in 1995 as a patrol officer for Brooklyn Center Police Department.

The 26-year veteran to the BCPD, Engh said, “always wanted to be on the streets.”

“She’ll tell you one of the proudest days of her life was to have her dad pin the badge on her so that she can be a police officer,” Engh said.

In particular, Engh said Potter wanted to help domestic abuse victims.

“As she became a part of Brooklyn Center domestic abuse task force … she shepherded women through the court system, became mentors, and made sure they were treated fairly,” Engh said.

Dec 08, 12:25 pm

Prosecution focuses on Daunte Wright, may introduce ‘spark of life’ witness

Prosecutor Erin Eldridge told the jury more about 20-year-old Daunte Wright.

“Daunte Wright himself was just 20 years old — just out of his teens — still had a close relationship with his mother, had a new baby boy, a loving family and his whole adult life ahead of him,” said Eldridge.

She told the jury that he had a large family that he loved, dreams of being a professional basketball player and plans to enroll in a trade school.

The prosecution is expected to have a “spark of life” witness, a Minnesota legal allowance that lets prosecutors present evidence about a murder victim that paints them in a nuanced light, legal experts say.

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.

Dec 08, 11:57 am

Prosecution hammers Potter’s training 

Erin Eldridge, a prosecutor with the Minnesota assistant attorney general’s office, is presenting the state’s case against former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter.

In an opening statement, Eldridge read for the jury the oath that Brooklyn Center officers take: “I will never betray my badge, my integrity. my character, or the public interest. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions.”

Eldridge told jurors that police officers “have the responsibility to be mindful and attentive and acutely aware of the weapons that they carry and the risks associated with those weapons,” targeting Potter’s defense that claims Potter had meant to grab her stun gun instead of her firearm when she fatally shot Daunte Wright.

“When it comes to those weapons, they have the responsibility to carry those weapons, and use those weapons appropriately,” Eldridge added.

Eldridge told the jury that they’ll hear evidence regarding stun gun and firearm training that Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center police department, would have had.

Potter carried her weapons on her belt in the same way every day on the job, Eldridge told the jury, and that she wore her firearm on her dominant, right-hand side and her stun gun on her non-dominant, left side.

“She was also trained about the risks of pulling the wrong weapon and that drawing and firing the wrong weapon could kill someone,” Eldridge said. “She was trained to carry her weapons in this way. And she was trained on how to use them and how not to use them.”

Dec 08, 10:56 am

Daunte Wright’s family enters courtroom 

Daunte Wright’s siblings — Damik, Diamond and Dallas — have arrived at the Hennepin County Government Center ahead of opening statements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daunte’s family wants him to be remembered not through the tragedy of his death, but as a brother, son and father who was close with his family.

“On Thanksgiving, we sat there and we watched so many videos of my nephew,” Wright’s aunt Naisha Wright said tearfully in a past interview with ABC News. “It was just such a beautiful thing, because everybody had a memory of him either cracking jokes or trying to dance — because he could not dance, but he tried.”

She added: “He just had his whole life taken away from him. We had our hearts pulled out of our chests. He was my baby.”

Dec 08, 10:13 am

Names prominent in the trial

The state is expected to deliver its opening statement first, represented by Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank.

Judge Chu will call the case, and hand it to the prosecution. Depending on how long each side takes, it is entirely possible the state call its first witness today also.

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

Dec 08, 9:47 am
A look at the jury as trial begins

Opening statements in the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter will begin Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET at the Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis.

Proceedings will take place in the same courtroom where Derek Chauvin was convicted in the murder of George Floyd.

Potter, 49, is charged with felony first- and second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man. She has pleaded not guilty.

Potter’s jury is less diverse than the one that decided Chauvin’s case: nine of the 12 deliberating jurors are white, alongside one Black juror, and two Asian jurors. The two alternate jurors are also white.

The deliberating jury is 75% white — which is aligned with the racial demographics of Hennepin County, according to Census information.

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

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(MELBOURNE, Fla.) — The family of a Florida Institute of Technology student who was fatally shot on campus last week by police and school security officers is launching an independent investigation into the deadly use of force.

Police responded to the Melbourne campus shortly before 11 p.m. Friday after reports of a man armed with a knife attacking students.

A Melbourne Police Department officer and school security confronted the man, identified by police as 18-year-old Alhaji Sow, in a campus building. Both fired their weapons, striking him, after Sow allegedly “lunged” at the police officer with an “edged weapon,” Melbourne police said following the incident. He died at the scene.

Sow’s family has since hired a law firm to investigate the incident and why non-lethal methods were not used by the school security officer to subdue the teenager, attorneys said Wednesday.

“On a college campus, there will undoubtedly be mental health crises that will have to be addressed by the officials of that campus, and they do not always require lethal force,” Greg Francis, a partner at the firm Osborne & Francis, said during a press briefing with the family. “But campus security officers’ only mechanism of dealing with students is a gun. Untold lives will unnecessarily be lost and/or negatively impacted.”

Francis said the investigation will also look at the crisis management training for Melbourne police officers and Florida Tech security officers.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this unbelievably horrific situation. We’ll get answers for these parents and other students on the Florida Tech campus,” Francis said. “We do not want another life to be taken senselessly.”

Sow’s father told reporters that the family was looking forward to Sow coming home for the holidays. “But unfortunately, that is not going to happen,” he said. ” We just want to know why. Why Alhaji have to die like this? We want to know why.”

Francis said they are still investigating what prompted the incident, and that Sow had no history of mental illness.

According to the Melbourne Police Department, which released a timeline Wednesday of the alleged attacks, Sow was “acting erratic” and “attacked multiple students on campus” that night.

Sow allegedly attacked three women in a 15-minute time span, starting with a “physical struggle” with a friend at her campus residence hall around 10:30 p.m., police said. Sow allegedly slapped another woman as he ran from the residence and repeatedly punched another woman at a nearby campus parking garage, police said.

A 911 caller then reported a man believed to be Sow armed with a knife “attacking multiple people and chasing someone,” police said.

Sow allegedly broke into a dormitory, dropped the knife and struck a resident adviser several times before running out a back door, police said.

He then allegedly punched a man outside another residence hall before officers confronted him inside the building in a room, armed with a pair of scissors, shortly after 11 p.m., police said. Sow allegedly lunged at the police officer, “striking the officer’s leg and causing a minor injury,” the department said. The police officer and security officer then discharged their firearms, striking Sow multiple times, police said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting. The officer is a five-year veteran of the force, police said.

The incident was captured on the police officer’s body-worn camera though won’t be immediately released due to the ongoing investigation, the department said Wednesday.

The identities of the police officer and security officer are not being released at this time.

A Florida Tech spokesperson directed all questions regarding the incident to the Melbourne Police Department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The university will conduct its own review once the law enforcement investigation is completed, school officials said.

Sow, of Riverdale, Georgia, was a sophomore studying aeronautical science, school officials said. He was in his first semester, after earning college credits in high school, said Francis, who called him an “exemplary student.”

The university held a vigil Tuesday night in the wake of the incident and is offering counseling and support to the school community.

“We are committed to doing all that we can to support our campus community,” Florida Tech spokesperson Wes Sumner said in a statement.

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(NIAGARA FALLS) — One woman was killed after the car she was in crashed into the waters on top of the American side of Niagara Falls Wednesday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The black sedan was roughly 75 to 100 yards from the brink of the falls Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation told ABC affiliate WKBW.

The Coast Guard said the unidentified female driver was pronounced dead at the scene after they sent a helicopter to airlift people from the vehicle.

It is not immediately known how the car crashed into the river or if there was anyone else in the vehicle.

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(NEW YORK) — Several students in Michigan, including some in middle school, have been hit with criminal charges alleging they posted online threats to stage copycat attacks like the one eight days ago at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit that left four teenagers dead, authorities said.

“They are saying, ‘I’m going to bomb the school. I’m going to kill people,'” Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit told ABC affiliate station WXYZ in Detroit.

Of the students charged, one faces a count of possession of a weapon in a school, authorities said.

Savit said most of the students thought they were making anonymous threats online.

“Even if you believe you make it through an anonymous social media account, law enforcement has ways to track you down and find you and when that happens, you’re going to get charged,” Savit said.

Savit said his office has charged two students with making threats, both middle school students.

The Harper Woods Police Department in Wayne County announced the arrests of two students for making threats.

Waterford police in Oakland County told WXYZ they arrested an eighth-grader from Mason Middle School in Waterford after he posted a firearm on social media with the caption, “Bro mason your next I’m coming for you on Tuesday.”

Prosecutors in Macomb County said five students are also facing charges of making threats against schools and another five students are facing similar charges in Macomb County, according to WXYZ.

Meanwhile, Texas police are also investigating a high school student who allegedly made an online threat against his Houston area school.

The Klein Intermediate School District Police Department said it is working with the Harris County district attorney to bring criminal charges against the student.

David Kimberly, the school district’s police chief, said during a news conference on Wednesday that officials at Klein Cain High School received a string of threats of violence against the campus via social media on Monday and Tuesday.

In a letter to parents, Kimberly said his officers worked with the FBI to track down the student, who has since been expelled from the school.

The copycat threats follow the deadly Nov. 30 attack at Oxford High School that also left eight people wounded.

Ethan Crumbley, 15, a student at Oxford High School, was charged as an adult with two dozen crimes, including murder, attempted murder and terrorism, for the shooting rampage at the Oakland County school. Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, who allegedly provided their son with the gun used in the school shooting, were also arrested and charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and remain in jail on $500,000 bail each.

Ethan Crumbly and his parents have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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(HAWAII) —  The Navy has shut down a second well following a water contamination that suspended operations at a facility in Hawaii.

The Hawaii Department of Health issued an an emergency order Monday to immediately halt operations at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Honolulu following reports of a water contamination.

About a week earlier, health officials and the Navy advised residents in Pearl Harbor to stop using tap water after dangerous levels of petroleum products were found in the water system at the Joint Base at Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Military housing residents reported a fuel-like odor coming from their tap water, ABC Honolulu affiliate KITV reported.

Navy officials confirmed to KITV that a second water well has been shut off amid the investigation into the contaminated water supply. Now that the Halawa and Red Hill wells have been turned off, the Navy is only pumping from the Waiawa shaft, according to the station.

Former commissioner on the Hawaii State Water Resource Management Commission Kamanamaikalani Beamer said during a virtual discussion with Hawaii’s congressional delegation Tuesday that the issue has been going on for “many years” and that during his time at the commission officials were questioning the Navy about the safety of the drinking water.

“There has never been a more serious and critical threat to the life-giving waters of Oahu than there is at this moment,” Beamer said.

The Navy is responsible for ensuring safe water for nearby residents and has been ordered by the state’s Department of Health to provide alternative drinking water to about 93,000 residents who may be affected.

The DOH also ordered the Navy to immediately install a drinking water treatment system at the Red Hill Shaft and submit a work plan to assess system integrity. Within 30 days of completing the correction action, the Navy must then defuel the underground storage tanks there.

The Navy plans to contest Gov. David Ige’s emergency order that shuttered operations at the fuel facility and is negotiating terms of a continuance with the Department of Health.

During Hawaii’s congressional delegation on Tuesday, Ige said he does not anticipate any delays to the investigative process, saying that finding the source of the contamination is of the utmost importance.

The health department will not declare whether the water is safe until no contamination has been detected over a period of time, Ige said.

ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.

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