On Friday, Officer Jeronimo Yanez was found not guilty of manslaughter and other charges relating to the fatal shooting of Philando Castile in a Minneapolis suburb in July 2016. Days after the verdict, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension made public files related to the case. Among them is the police dash-cam video that captures the traffic stop and the fatal exchange between Castile, who is black, and Yanez.
The video shows Castile pulling his white sedan over to the shoulder, and Yanez walking out and approaching the driver’s side window. Yanez leans into the car and tells Castile one of his brake lights is out, and asks for his license and registration. After handing Yanez those documents, Castile voluntarily tells the officer that he has a firearm on him. Yanez’s hand goes to his holster, saying “Don’t reach for it, then.” Yanez begins to remove his own gun, and though some of the exchange is hard to hear, Yanez warns him, “Don’t pull it out.”
Castile replies, “I’m not pulling it out.” Yanez, voice rising, repeats, “Don’t pull it out” again, leans into the car, and fires. (Warning: The video below is graphic.)
The jury and others in the courtroom during Yanez’s trial did view the dash-cam video, reports Fox 9 News. Castile’s girlfriend, who was in the car at the time of Castile’s shooting, had filmed the deadly encounter and posted the video to Facebook, sparking national outrage and Black Lives Matter protests in Minnesota and beyond.
