On Tuesday, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released dash cam footage from the shooting of Philando Castile as part as the release of the case file after officer Jeronimo Yanez was found not guilty of second degree manslaughter for Castile’s death.
Although the dash cam footage was used in the trial, it had not been publicly released. The only footage that the public had access to in this case was the video that Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, livestreamed in the aftermath of the shooting.
The dash cam footage shows the traffic stop and also shows Yanez pulling out his firearm and firing seven times into the car. However, it does not show what happened inside the car.
The footage captured the conversation between Yanez and Castile as Yanez asks for Castile’s license and registration. Castile appears to hand something to Yanez before saying, “Sir, I have to tell you, I do have a firearm on me.”
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Castile has not even finished the sentence before Yanez reached for his own firearm to pull it out of his holster, shouting “Don’t pull it out!” before firing into the car.
Yanez testified in court that he could clearly see the gun and that Castile ignored commands not to pull it out. However, Castile’s last words were, “I wasn’t reaching for it.”
“My son loved this city, and this city killed my son,” Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, said after the not guilty verdict was announced, prompting protests and demonstrations. “And a murderer gets away? Are you kidding me right now?”
Although Yanez was acquitted, the city of St. Anthony annonced that Yanez would no longer be on the force because that was how the interests of the public “will be best served” if Yanez no longer works for the city.