Shocking video of police shooting wasn't enough to convict

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Shocking video of police shooting wasn't enough to convict
Steve Karnowski and Amy Forliti, Associated Press

Updated 4:09 pm, Wednesday, June 21, 2017


- video -

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The release of dashboard video in the shooting death of Philando Castile renewed anger over his death and reopened an emotional question: How could the police officer who shot him have been acquitted?

But even with the shocking squad-car footage, prosecutors faced a challenge because no video showed exactly what happened inside Castile's car. That left plenty of room for reasonable doubt.

 
The dashboard video made public for the first time Tuesday showed events that had been described many times since Castile was killed by Officer Jeronimo Yanez nearly a year ago. For many viewers, the graphic scene of gunfire striking a black driver during a seemingly simple traffic stop served only to make last week's verdict harder to understand.

Yanez was the second police officer to be acquitted in a killing in less than a week. A Wisconsin jury on Wednesday cleared a former police officer of first-degree reckless homicide charges in the on-duty shooting of a black man last year that ignited riots in Milwaukee.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Release-of-Castile-slaying-video-shocks-angers-11235027.php

[vi5]

1. At what point will Americans stop acting and thinking aspirationally...

...at the expense of the reality right in front of their eyes.

Whether it's continuing to vote for politicians and policies that favor the rich, in the hopes that one day they will be rich themselves, or voting to let killer cops off the hook because one day they might need that mythical brave, noble cop who will risk his life to save theirs.

The world is not as it was in the 50's and hasn't been in a long time. You're not going to get rich through hard work and gumption, and officer friendly on the corner is not going to protect you.

[IronLionZion]

2. Video

Because one would expect a dangerous murdering killer to politely tell a police officer he has a permit and gun and then go for it....if one is an idiot.

[tblue37]

8. With not only his girlfrfiend, but also be 4-YEAR-OLD CHILD sitting in the car, that cop

filled the car with bullets!

[IronLionZion]

10. The NRA supports this with their silence

a government officer publicly executing a law abiding and permitted American in front of his family. A person being considered dangerous simply for owning a gun is against everything the NRA claims to stand for.

And it doesn't matter if it's with a child and woman present. Cops have shot and killed children and women this week in the greatest country in the world.

[mountain grammy]

3. Ice Cube spoke about good cops and bad cops

on Bill Maher's show a couple of weeks ago.. He stressed how "good cops" know who the bad cops are and need stop them. It's all on the so called "good cops."

This "band of brother" shit just isn't cutting it.. time for some truth!

[unblock]

4. i find it all baffling.

i mean, i get it, good defense lawyers are brilliant at creating "reasonable doubt" out of, well, unreasonable doubt.

but to me, several facts point to a completely unjustified killing.

for example, the profanity and borderline panic after the shooting stinks to high heaven of confession and guilty conscience. he knows damn well he completely f*cked up. maybe he had some concern for his victim, but he sure as sh*t had concern for his own career, if not his own freedom.

furthermore, supposedly there was a gun in the car. why then was the shooting cop still pointing his gun at the dying guy and seemingly completely unconcerned about the woman? if he was reasonable fearful of getting shot by the driver, why would he not then be fearful of getting shot by the passenger after putting the passenger in a position to think that her life was in immediate danger? yet no effort to locate the gun, no effort to get the passenger out of the car, etc.

moreover, the other cop seemed completely unconcerned about a weapon in the car.



this is beyond the usual, which is that a cop seeing a snickers bar, a toy, a wallet, or a "grip too wide for a wallet" (wtf?) shouldn't justify shooting and killing anyone.

that's absolutely ridiculous, and *if true*, then there's no f*cking justification for making most traffic stops in the first place. if traffic stops can commonly result in innocent people getting killed, then traffic stops shouldn't happen. find a different way to enforce the law that doesn't involve innocent people getting killed.

[killbotfactory]

12. It's not baffling at all, really

My one experience going to jury duty taught me the prosecution weeds out people who don't trust the cops. The defendants case was based on disputing the cops version of events.

One of the first questions we were asked was, essentially: "Does anyone here think cops would lie?"

A guy raises his hand, says "of course, they're are many numerous instances where..."

I think you can guess if he made it onto the jury or not. I imagine this is common practice.

[unblock]

13. I know, but still...

[killbotfactory]

14. yeah...

[susanna]

16. Excellent assessment. n/t

[yardwork]

22. I noticed the same thing. The killer had no concern about the gun supposedly in the car.

If the cop had been really worried about the gun, he would have made sure that the passenger couldn't use it. So would the other cop.

Instead....

[MurderMittenLiberal]

26. Lets not forget

The reason for the car being pulled over in the first place was because the officer made eye contact with Castle as he drove by and the officer felt that was suspicious and made the stop. They weren't even being pulled over for doing anything illegal, just the officer stereotyping and feeling trigger happy.

[Angry Dragon]

5. the policeman over reacted .......... senseless killing

[Saviolo]

6. Even more specifically...

The policeman panicked because the man was black. He brought his own racist panic into the situation, had a whole terrifying scenario already playing out in his mind, and that completely clouded his mind. He even said he doesn't remember the first couple of shots. His mind was so overwhelmed by panic just because the man was black that he can't even remember the first couple of shots.

[Equinox Moon]

7. Plus, the cop reported smelling "burnt marijuana"

which added to his rapid escalation into a panic response.

The whole thing is tragic.

[yardwork]

20. Because people smoking pot are often violent. /sarcasm

This case highlighted almost every one of the fears and biases that are destroying this country.

It's pathetic.

[LittleGirl]

9. I can't watch it

I watched I did the day it happened or was uploaded and viewed a billion times.
Of course, the cop is guilty of murder.
Why couldn't the court see that?
And why doesn't he call for help. He lets Philando bleed out while his daughter watches him die.

it's just wrong.

[moondust]

11. Unbelievable.

Murder by an unhinged lunatic who belongs in prison where he is not a danger to anyone else.

[cisco man]

15. The People in this Country...

are overall a disgrace!!!! The so-called average citizen is such a let-down with regard to the human race. I am thoroughly disgusted and have no faith in humanity as a whole.

[DeminPennswoods]

17. Blame the Supreme Court

for ruling that if a cop feels threatened or that his/her life is in danger, it's ok to shoot to kill. Cops are coached to say that in some form or the other. That's what Yanez claimed and why, in all likelihood, he got off.

It's obvious to anyone who watched the video that Yanez completely paniced. He never even gave Castille a chance to say where the gun or his wallet were before he starts screaming and shooting. You notice the other cop on the scene was calm throughout. A competent cop would have asked Castille where the gun was, then told Castille and his g/f to put their hands where he could see them and step out of the car if the cop was fearful of a gun being pulled.

I really think there needs to be mandatory psychological testing of potential police hires and periodic re-testing to ensure only mentally fit officers retain their jobs.

[harun]

19. Tend to agree. I'd go so far as to say officers are allowed to not take the

psychological exams but if they do they don't carry a gun. Only non-lethal defense.

Those who carry a gun need to be held to higher standards. If they are prone to adrenaline freak out's and just love being a cop, fine they can be cops just can't carry. Many nations don't have all cops carry guns.

[burnbaby]

18. I watched the video

He told him not to pull his gun out. My question is. Why did he go and attempt to pull it out?

[yardwork]

21. He didn't. The victim's gun was untouched.

[heaven05]

24. how do you know

he attempted to pull his gun out? And if he did tell the person who murdered him he had one why would A Montessori teacher with his daughter and wife in car threaten a police officer. WAKE UP!!

What a country this has always been with it's hypocritical excuse for justice especially when it comes to POC, always, and now in spades with this trump character pretending to be a competent leader. The AmeriKKKan base of truly despicable deplorables ARE the blame for this travesty of justice and this murder and from now on all other state authorized murders of POC lies with them only, the blood is on their hands. I have no doubt all would bath in it if they could.

[burnbaby]

27. For goodness sakes

Listen to it. He specifically told him not to go for his gun. He repeats over and over again why did you go for your gun. Maybe "ameriKKKan" is to blame but I don't know where that is.

[bettyellen]

28. The gun was inside his pocket when they took him out of the car. Inside his pocket...

His description varied three times as to what he saw, or might have seen. The EMS worker said it was deep inside the pocket, and he was handling the body.
The shooter immediately said he didn't know where the gun was. He failed to ask the man to put his hands on the steering wheel, which is how they are trained. He created his own panic by fucking up and misjudging the situation.

[burnbaby]

29. Oh

I thought I heard the cop say why did you go for your gun. Going to review it again

[DeminPennswoods]

30. The cop did say that, among other things

all designed to make it appear he was threatened and had to shoot.

The cop has to live with this the rest of his life. Personally, I hope it tears him to pieces mentally. He knows what he did was murder a man in cold blood because he paniced.

[bettyellen]

31. He said that, but he also said (after) that he didn't know where it was. And cops were shady

About if any of it was even visible in his pocket and had conflicting stories. But they all say it was IN the pocket. Notably the fireman and EMS worker on the scene say they could not see it at all. Only his friends from the academy say some of it peeped out, their testimony was not convincing. The shooter did not follow proper procedure. He should have asked for hands in the steering wheel. The driver was complying perfectly.

[heaven05]

32. well

I don't care about your apology for the murderer of this human being. I did listen and his girlfriend said he didn't do anything threatening to this nazi ameriKKKan. I know where it is, I walk it's ground everyday.....you have a good....????

[heaven05]

23. Well

it was a jury of his peers, racially, so at this time in ameriKKan history, what can be expected? It has always been open season when it comes to state authorized murder of its AA citizens and I fear for all of us in this upcoming era of white supremacists thought guiding our nation at the highest levels of 'leadership'.

I have always said this, fuck ameriKKKan justice.

[Sunlei]

25. where are the stats, how many shootings, how many times have people been shocked with 50k volts,

How many dog bites?
how many people have died in jails and prisons?,
how many complaints from prisoners in jails (not convicted)?,
in detention for profit prisons?,
in prison serving their decades?.
Where are the family complains/communications about their family members treatment in prison/jail?

How many times have people been shocked or sprayed with high powered pepper spray?

How many times has water been cut off from ANY prisoners?

Violence begets more violence, not less.