In a move that surprised both police and protesters, the state has decided to move forward with manslaughter charges against the officer who fatally shot Philando Castile.
The Pioneer Press is suggesting that this is likely the first time in modern memory that an officer will be charged for manslaughter for such an incident. In addition to the charge of manslaughter, officer Jeronimo Yanez will also face two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a weapon for endangering the other two people in Castile’s car.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi spoke about the indictment on Wednesday.
“Unreasonable fear cannot justify the use of deadly force,” said Choi. “My conscience tells me it would be wrong for me to ask a grand jury to make this decision when I know in my heart what needs to be done … In order to achieve justice, we must be willing to do the right thing.”
Yanez will appear in Ramsey County District Court on Friday.
Case Details
Although they didn’t dive into a lot of details about the case because it is an ongoing investigation, Choi detailed a few of the reasons why he believed their was enough evidence to charge Yanez with a crime:
- Yanez pulled Castile over for a broken taillight, and because he thought Castile may have been involved in a past robbery, “just because he had a wide-set nose,” even though Choi firmly stated that Castile was not a suspect in that past robbery.
- The police report states that Yanez ran Castile’s license plate and found that the car was properly licensed to Castile and there were no warrants for his arrest.
- Castile complied with the officer when he turned on his lights, pulling over within 12 seconds of being signaled to stop.
- Less than two minutes later, Yanez shot Castile seven times, and the whole incident was captured on the squad car’s dashboard camera.
- Yanez stated that in that minute, he saw the Castile was buckled in, there was a child in the back seat, and both Castile’s hands were in view.
- After Castile handed over his insurance, he “calmly and in an non-threatening matter informed Yanez: ‘Sir, I have to tell you that I do have a firearm on me,’ ” said Choi. Before Castile could finish what he was saying, Yanez interrupted, saying, “OK,’ before putting his hand on his right holster and adding, “don’t reach for it then.”
- Castile tried to respond, but Yanez interrupted, again telling him not to pull it out. Both Castile and his passenger reiterated that he wasn’t reaching for it, but Yanez screamed “Don’t pull it out,” before pulling out his gun and firing seven times.
- Castile’s dying words were, “I wasn’t reaching for it.”
- Castile had a permit to carry a pistol on him at the time of his death.
“We believe Castile never removed nor tried to remove his handgun from his front right pocket, which was a foot deep,” Choi said, adding that Yanez’s partner told investigators that he did not see Castile make any sudden movements. “I would submit that no reasonable officer knowing, seeing or hearing what officer Yanez did would have used deadly force.”
Minnesota law states that the use of deadly force is only justified “when necessary to protect the peace officer or another from apparent death or great bodily harm,” and the state did not feel that Castile’s actions presented an apparent threat to either Yanez or his partner.
We’ll keep an eye on the case as it continues.
