As you would expect, the release of the police dash video of the Philando Castile killing was a national story. Mitch Smith of The New York Times writes, “The video reveals how a mundane conversation about a broken taillight devolved within seconds into gunfire. The newly released footage provides the fullest account yet of an episode that led to a national debate over police conduct toward black people, but it also leaves unanswered critical questions about what happened that day. … Most revealing, perhaps, about the newly released video are the voices that can be clearly heard on it — a calm, polite discussion at first, and then, in seconds, a sudden burst of tension and shots.”
For The Huffington Post, Andy Campbell and Rebecca Klein write, “Yanez can be heard screaming profanities and sobbing after the shooting. He keeps his gun pointed at a dying Castile as he calls for backup and waits for other officers to arrive. Later in the video, when Yanez is interviewed by another officer, he admits that he didn’t actually see Castile grab for a gun. He notes, however, that he was nervous after he asked to see Castile’s license, and Castile ‘had his grip a lot wider than a wallet.’”
In The Washington Post, Mark Berman and Wesley Lowery say, “Recordings are inevitably incomplete, said David A. Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert in police uses of force. ‘Video doesn’t always capture the whole sequence of events,’ Harris said. ‘This case was an example of that. We have a situation in which the Facebook Live stream only begins after the shooting itself. And it’s horrible. I don’t know how anybody could see that and not be affected by it. But it doesn’t show the actual shooting.’ Harris said that even if a recording showed Castile grabbing his wallet or grabbing a gearshift, that might not necessarily have swayed the trial’s outcome. … ‘What could a reasonable officer have seen from his or her point of view’?”
And then there’s this, from Mary Lynn Smith, in the Strib, “A hacker, angry that the police officer charged with killing Philando Castile was found not guilty, reportedly broke into state of Minnesota databases, stealing e-mails and passwords. Minnesota IT Services confirmed the attack and said it’s investigating, according to a sparsely worded written statement.”
And as expected, the PiPress reports, “The family of Philando Castile plans to bring a civil lawsuit against the St. Anthony police officer who fatally shot him during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights last summer. A spokesperson for Judge Glenda Hatchett indicated Castile’s family plans to file a lawsuit in federal court but didn’t have a timeline Tuesday.”
Also in the Strib, Paul Walsh reports on “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah’s response to the killing … and the NRA’s not at all surprising silence. “‘This is one group you would expect to be losing their … minds about this: the NRA,’ Noah said in the 3-minute segment that aired Monday night on Comedy Central. Noah emphasized that Castile was lawfully armed and curried no favor with the NRA because of his race. ‘But for some strange reason, on this particular case, they’ve been completely silent. Completely silent.’” Does this surprise you in any way? I didn’t think so.
And as far as we know this thing is not deep fried. MPR’s Tim Nelson says, “The Minnesota State Fair will announce Friday that it is bringing one of the tallest Ferris wheels in North America to this year’s Great Minnesota Get-Together. The wheel, made in the Netherlands, is 15 stories tall and has 36 enclosed gondolas that hold six passengers each. The wheel also has more than a half-million LED lights that can be lit in thousands of designs and colors. It takes 12 trailers to move the attraction from fair to fair.”
No boat … but an island. In the PiPress, Sophie Carson writes, “A 51-year-old Hennepin County man who stole more than $2.1 million and bought an island with the money was found guilty Tuesday. The FBI says Ronald David Johnson of Corcoran falsely promised North Dakota oil boom investors they would make money from the construction of an indoor RV park for workers on the Bakken oil field. … Johnson didn’t build warehouses with the investors’ money. Instead, he used it to repay prior investors, fund his personal cattle farm, take vacations and buy vintage cars and real estate. The real estate purchases include a 17-acre island on Mink Lake in Maple Lake, Minn.”
Just a few brief seconds
It seems the most likely scenario was Castile was still attempting to comply with the earlier command to produce his license and insurance card. Yet when Yanez learned of the gun, that became his overriding concern and those innocent movements became potentially dangerous. You can see from the officer’s reaction that the absolute last thing he wanted was to use his weapon.
I think you could plausibly believe either the State or defense versions of events, yet I’m not sure you could believe either by the required “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard. Just a difficult, horrible incident for everyone involved.
Nonsense
If the last thing he wanted was to use the weapon, he wouldn’t have immediately used it on someone following his instructions.
What the video shows is a scared little boy who had no business whatsoever working as a police officer. A coward of a man who claimed to be concerned about marijuana affecting the little girl in the backseat, who fired 7 shots into the car.
The good news is Yanez will never work as a cop again. But that doesn’t bring back the man he killed
Jury followed the law
A reading of the jury instructions helps understand that the jury followed the law and returned the correct verdict per the charges. The law gives all benefit of doubt to the police. Perhaps John Choi charged Yanez with the wrong crime. But Choi’s job is a political job. He is worried about his next election and rise to higher office.
Not sure where this notion that Yanez will never work as a police officer again comes from. It seems all we know today, pending agreement of the parties, Yanez will separated from his current job with a severance package.
Never ever
No police department would look at that video and ever think Yanez was qualified to be a cop. His actions may not have constituted a crime in the eyes of the jury, but it was terrible policing, which is why he was immediately “separated” from his job and taxpayers will be forking out millions of dollars because of his actions.
A police department would be hiring someone who, at best, is grossly incompetent. Someone who will immediately poison relationships with the community and expose them to liability for his future actions.
No, Yanez will never work as a cop again.