Minnesota Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile

by silvermani Sun Jun 18, 2017 11:22 am

"He was making assumptions and jumping to conclusions without engaging in the dialogue he was trained to have in a citizen encounter like this,” Jeffrey Paulsen, a prosecutor, said in closing arguments. “And that’s his fault, not the fault of Philando Castile."

Mr. Castile was licensed to carry a gun and was recorded on a dashboard camera video calmly telling Officer Yanez that he had a weapon in the car. Officer Yanez told him not to reach for the weapon, and Mr. Castile and Ms. Reynolds both tried to assure the officer that he was not doing so.

Within seconds, Officer Yanez fired seven shots. Prosecutors said Mr. Castile had mentioned his gun to allay concerns, not to threaten the officer or escalate the situation. “If someone were just about to reach in their pocket and pull out a gun and shoot an officer, that’s the last thing they would say,” Mr. Paulsen said.

Mr. Gray, the defense lawyer, said Officer Yanez had to react quickly to what he believed was an imminent threat. He said Officer Yanez smelled marijuana, believed that Mr. Castile matched the description of a recent robbery suspect and saw him grabbing a gun. “We have him ignoring his commands. He’s got a gun. He might be the robber. He’s got marijuana in his car,” Mr. Gray told jurors. “Those are the things in Officer Yanez’s head.”

by FluteHolder Sun Jun 18, 2017 11:44 am

Despite the one-sided /racist outcome of the case, if Castle did not have a gun on that day, he would have survived or IF we was a white guy he would not been shot.

by silvermani Sun Jun 18, 2017 12:29 pm

FluteHolder wrote:Despite the one-sided /racist outcome of the case, if Castle did not have a gun on that day, he would have survived or IF we was a white guy he would not been shot.

Yes, very likely. Since this was only about a broken tail light, the officer could have called for back up and followed the guy around until its arrival. Despite official proclamations to the contrary, the mental conditioning of the cops seems to be to shoot first and answer questions later.

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Minnesota Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile

Minnesota Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile

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Re: Minnesota Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile

Re: Minnesota Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile