This week Minnesota police officer, Jeronimo Yanez, has been found not guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker. Besides the surprising verdict, we were also able to see the dashcam footage from that fateful night on July 6, 2016. The entire incident lasts what feels like just a few seconds, but in reality it lasts around a minute. What started off as a routine traffic stop quickly turned into cold blooded murder.
The video starts off with Officer Jeronimo Yanez calmly approaching the 1997 Oldsmobile with driver Philando Castile, and passengers Diamond Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter. Yanez, after a brief introduction discloses to Castile that the reason he was pulled over was because his brake lights are out. After this brief exchange of words you can see on the right hand side of the screen another officer slowly entering the frame and quietly observing. Yanez then asks Castile for his license and insurance which is standard practice when being pulled over. In the video you can clearly see Officer Yanez take something from the car, probably his license or insurance, handed over by Castile. It is at this moment Mr.Castile discloses to Officer Yanez that he has a firearm on him. Within the next few seconds, Jeronimo Yanez will unload seven rounds into Castile’s body while Reynolds and her daughter watch on in absolute terror. After disclosing this information to police, Yanez acknowledges Castile and tells him “not to reach for it.” Castile states to the officer that he is not going to pull it out. Yanez again states, this time in a more agitated tone, “Don’t pull it out.” It is at this second reference we see Yanez reach for his gun on his right hip. Without even giving Castile time to respond, Yanez whips his gun out and proceeds to shoot Castile seven times while we hear the occupants of the car scream and moan in terror and pain. After the shooting rampage ends we hear Debbie Reynolds state, “He wasn’t pulling it out.” Yanez then screams, “Don’t pull it out,” again in an agitated tone while still pointing his weapon inside the vehicle.
The next day Jeronimo Yanez, flanked with two lawyers meets with two officer from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. During this interview more horrifying information came to light about the deadly encounter. Joseph Kauser, the officer seen in the righthand frame stated that Castile appeared “calm and relaxed” and that “he was surprised when Yanez started shooting.” Radio calls from Officer Yanez show that he had an ulterior motive for stopping the 1997 Oldsmobile that day. In his call Yanez stated that he was going to check ID’s because the two occupants looked like armed robbery suspects and that the “Driver looks more like one of the suspects just cause of the wide-set nose...I couldn’t get a look at the other passenger, and I’ll wait for you.” Yanez also stated that he smelled marijuana as he approached their car in an attempt to justify his shooting. “I thought if he has the guts and the audacity to smoke marijuana in front of the 5-year-old girl and risk her lungs and risk her life by giving her secondhand smoke and the front seat passenger doing the same thing then what, what care does he give about me.” During this interview Yanez said that he had made hundreds of traffic stops in which the drivers informed him they were carrying firearms and that these stops ended safely “100% of the time” because the drivers kept their hands in view and told him when they were reaching for their wallets or other objects.
That is a lot of information but let's take a second a break everything down and evaluate the authenticity and appropriateness of his actions:
As Yanez approaches the vehicle and begins speaking to Castile, he states that the 1997 Oldsmobile’s brake lights are out. However, in the radio calls we learn that Yanez actually believes the individuals in the car are armed robbery suspects based on their race and the fact that Castile has a “wide-set nose.” Two clear indications of this thing called racial profiling. With this information, we can deduce that Yanez believed these individuals to possibly be armed and dangerous. We can even see more indication of this idea because Yanez asked for backup when dealing with this traffic stop.
When a citizen has a firearm you have a “duty to inform” the officer. In this video we clearly hear Philando Castile tell Officer Yanez that he is carrying a firearm unprompted. This is where the situation begins to turn awry. At this point, Officer Yanez should have asked Castile to put his hands on the steering wheel, asked him if he had a concealed carry permit (CCP), and taken steps to ensure both the officers and occupants of the car's safety. However, at this point all Yanez says is “Don’t reach for it.” Castile begins to inform Yanez that he is not, that he is reaching for….but he is cut off by Yanez yelling and reaching for his gun, Castile again states that he is not reaching for his firearm, at this moment Yanez unleashes seven rapid rounds into the car, five fatally hitting Castile. Also notice in this frame that Yanez is shooting erratically into the vehicle with only one hand on the gun, not two to promote balance and accuracy for the weapon. Yanez stated earlier that all his previous traffic stops involving individuals licensed to carry firearms ended with no instances of escalation because individuals kept their hands where the officer could see them and stated what they were reaching for. In the video we clearly begin to hear Castile stating he is “reaching for…” but is cut off every time by Officer Yanez. He never gave Castile a chance to say that he was probably reaching for his wallet to get his license to give to the officer. Instead Yanez acted on unfounded ideas he possessed regarding this traffic stop, and more importantly Philando Castile. Growing up we are taught to respect law enforcement, look to them as a North Star, and listen to them. In incidents like these we look to law enforcement for guidance and instructions yet Yanez failed to give him any besides “Don’t reach for it” after prompting Castile for his license and registration.
This trial showed that Yanez made assumptions about the occupants of the car and Philando himself without properly engaging in the dialogue he was trained to have with Castile resulting in his death. Instead of engaging with Philando in conversation “Please put your hands where I can see them,” “Where is the gun located,” “Do you have a concealed carry permit,” Yanez yells at Castile and tells him not to reach for the gun without ever establishing where it was, and making preconceived notions on his safety based on no factual information. It seems that some that take an oath to “serve and protect” twist it for their own self preservation. Another detrimental and ridiculous assumption that Yanez made was that since Castile and Reynolds “were smoking pot in the car” and did not care that they were exposing Reynold’s daughter to secondhand smoke, Castile obviously would not care about Officer Yanez’s life. This reasoning is outlandish and unfounded and there is no correlation between these two ideas. Though many believed he would be found guilty of manslaughter as well as endangering the lives of the other two passengers in the car, a jury acquitted him of all charges.
Many have noted about the lack of a backlash from Second Amendment advocates especially from the National Rifle Association (NRA). The only statement the NRA has made concerning the situation did not even take the time to acknowledge Philando Castile, just that this incident was “troublesome” and that they would investigate. However, with the recent verdict the NRA has remained shockingly silent. As an advocate for the rights of citizens to carry firearms you think they would have something to say about the murder of a law-abiding citizen, however they have remained silent.
The Philando Castile case is just another instance of the “lawful” murder of Black men in our country, a country where law enforcement is invincible against prosecution and can do anything they want. How many innocent unarmed, and in this case legally armed Black men must be murdered and their killers go free before we find someone guilty and reevaluate policing methods and de-escalation tactics? Though Yanez may have feared for his life on July 6, 2016, he set up a scenario based on his own factless theories and strayed from protocol which in turn changed the course of many lives in the span of seconds. Philando Castile was not guilty of an armed robbery, he was not guilty of possessing a gun illegally, he was guilty of being Black.
View this video on YouTube
This is the recently released video of the traffic stop involving Philando Castile, his girlfriend, and her 4-year-old daughter.
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