SMH: Dash Cam Video Shows Philando Castile Calmly Told Officer He Had Gun
It blows my mind that a jury was shown this video and STILL dropped every single charge against the police officer that clearly murdered Philando Castile in cold blood.
The officer's dash cam footage was finally released today and showed the chilling final moments leading up to the shooting.
Jeronimo Yanez can be seen on video pulling over Castile's vehicle on the side of a road in Falcon Heights. He walks over to Castile telling him that his interior brake light was off and asked for his driver's license and proof of insurance.
"Sir, I have to tell you that I do have a firearm on me,” Castile, 32, told the St. Anthony cop."Don't reach for it then," Yanez, 29, responded. "Don't pull it out."
The officer kept insisting "don't pull it out" before grabbing his weapon from his waist and firing multiple shots at Castile through the driver's window.
Castile's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds was also in the car with her 4-year-old daughter at the time of the shooting. She live streamed the aftermath on Facebook Live, which drew in millions of viewers.
She cried that Yanez "killed my boyfriend" and insisted that Castile wasn't grabbing for his gun.
"I told him not to reach for it," a frantic Yanez can be heard saying in the video.
A jury last week acquitted Yanez of manslaughter and discharging firearm charges.
Yanez testified in court that he had stopped Castile on suspicion that he was a suspect in an armed robbery four days earlier. -(NY Daily News)