The past 72 hours have been nothing but heartbreak, blood, and bullets flying between police and African American men. On July 6th, Philando Castile, his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, and her four year old daughter were pulled over by Minneapolis police officer named Jeronimo Yanez. The probable cause was Castile's car had a broken tail light. According to Reynolds, after the fact, there was never a broken tail light on his car. Yanez walked up to his car and asked, from the usual that any officer would ask for, and that is for license and registration. Philando complied with everything that was asked of him, instead he did one thing that would cost him his life. He told Officer Yanez that he had a firearm on him at that time. Who would have known that saying that and believing that he was going to be safe with being a license firearm carrier would cost him his life two days before his birthday? As he reached back to where he kept his license and registration, Officer Yanez found the need to shoot four bullets in his arm. At this time, his girlfriend turned on her Facebook live and caught the aftermath of the shocking shooting. As you look at the video, you can see Castile laying in his seat, blood pooling in his shirt, and his head back as he moaned in pain and shock at being shot.
Reynolds would go on to try to explain to the officer that he had a permit to carry his gun, and reminded the officer, and her viewers, that Philando was shot. The officers that were also on the scene took her daughter out the back seat and moved her away from the crime scene. As her video kept rolling, Reynolds would repeat that the officer shot her boyfriend and that she hoped that he wasn't dead. At that time, he was no longer moving, but you could see he was still breathing because his adam's apple was still moving up and down as he gasped for air. They removed Ms. Reynolds from the car, placed her in handcuffs, and put her and her daughter in the backseat of the police cruiser. Yanez was heard in the video saying that he thought that Mr. Castile was going to pull out his gun.
Details emerged from the case that Yanez walked up to the driver's side and immediately opened fire, striking Philando multiple times. Also, there was a gun recovered from the scene but the video recovers that he was indeed a licensed firearm carrier, while the state officials were banned from saying whether Mr. Castile was a licensed arms carrier. As the day went on and protestors formed on the streets, his mother would let the world know that she taught her son how to survive a traffic stop, but it still got him killed.
During the ongoing investigation, it emerged that it wasn't only Yanez at the scene but another officer by the name of Joseph Kauser. Kauser was on the passenger side, shouting orders at Philando's fiancé, Diamond Reynolds. He was also the man who removed her daughter from her car and placed her in handcuffs after she was removed from the car. They are both on paid administrative leave, which is known as standard procedure when an officer is under investigation for a crime. Now, all that is left with Reynolds is memories that she had with Castile.
Killed over a license or killed because he was a black male? Now that this tragedy has happened, was it okay for him to be dead? Was it okay for him to be shot infront of his fiance and her daughter? I don't think that it was, but it's not up to me to decide that. All we can do as a nation is to come together and stop this from happening from another person.
