x
Breaking News
More () »

Woman live-streams aftermath of fatal officer-involved shooting in Minnesota

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn, — Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton says he doesn’t think a police officer would have shot and killed a driver who apparently was pul...
philando and car

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn, — Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton says he doesn’t think a police officer would have shot and killed a driver who apparently was pulled over for a broken taillight if the driver had been white instead of black.

Woman live-streams aftermath of fatal officer-involved shooting in Minnesota

Dayton said Thursday at a news conference in St. Paul that he thinks the police response was “way over” what was called for when the officer shot Philando Castile several times as he sat in his car Wednesday in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights.

Dayton, a Democrat, says nobody should be killed for a broken taillight or while sitting in their car and that he was “deeply, deeply offended” by Castile’s death.

Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, broadcast the aftermath of the shooting from inside the car on Facebook. Castile later died. Her 4-year-old daughter was in the backseat at the time.

Dayton said he had spoken to President Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, regarding the shooting death of Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

Dayton said he requested the assistance of the U.S. attorney general’s office and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and “urged them to come in here as soon as possible” to determine “what is appropriate.”

He added: “I agree that this kind of behavior is unacceptable. It’s not the norm in Minnesota.”

President Obama also released a statement on the deaths of both Philando Castile, and Alton Sterling, who was shot and killed by police in Baton Rouge this week.

Warning: The video contains graphic content and language

Watch the video here. 

“Stay with me,” are the first words heard in her video. “We got pulled over for a busted tail light in the back.”

The camera shows the woman speaking, then turns to a man in a white shirt, covered in blood. Out the window appears to be a police officer with his gun drawn.

Diamond Reynolds live-streamed on Facebook under the name Lavish Reynolds, starting from the moments following Castile’s shooting, which occurred Wednesday as he sat in his car, in the driver’s seat, with her beside him.

The video appears to be shot with the phone’s front-facing camera, so the perspective is flipped, as letters would be in a mirror. Because of this, the steering wheel appears to be on the wrong side of the car.

In the video’s first minute, Reynolds says that Castile is licensed to carry a firearm. She claims that before the shooting, her boyfriend was trying to get his ID from his wallet in his back pocket.

“We had our hands in the air,” Reynolds said.

Castile’s uncle, Clarence Castile, confirmed to CNN that his nephew had a concealed carry license. “My nephew has a (concealed carry) permit, and still got killed for carrying a gun … this needs to stop,” he said. “This happens so often.”

After that, you see the officer continue standing outside the car with his gun held up at Reynolds, while Castile bleeds out.

“Please don’t tell me this lord, please, Jesus don’t tell me that he’s gone,” Reynolds pleads with police in a hauntingly calm voice.

The St. Anthony’s Police Department doesn’t have body cameras, according to the department’s office manager, Kim Brazil.

William Moulder, a police consultant and longtime former police chief in Des Moines, told the Associated Press that the officer should have delivered first aid when it was clear he was no longer a threat.

Reynolds and relatives say he wasn’t tended to until paramedics arrived more than 10 minutes later. During her nearly 10-minute-long Facebook video, Reynolds’ phone is tossed to the ground as she’s heard being asked to get out of the car and get on her knees, and she was handcuffed.

Reynolds eventually gets a hold of the phone again and says she is filming from the back seat of a police car.

But no one seemed to know what happened to her after that, until she reappeared Thursday morning to tell reporters more about the fatal traffic stop.

Sometimes breaking down in sobs, Reynolds said she wasn’t able to say goodbye to Castile. “I never got to say my last words,” she said, adding, “No one deserves this. I have not been able to sleep. I have not been able to eat. I have not been able to work.”

Castile was a 2001 graduate of Central High School in St. Paul who had worked for the school district since he was 19 years old, and was currently a kitchen supervisor.

A statement on the St. Paul Public Schools website says Philando Castile started working for the district in the Nutrition Services Department in 2002. The statement says when Castile interviewed for his supervisory position he wore a suit and tie and said his goal was to one day “sit on the other side of this table.” He eventually won a promotion and became a respected supervisor.

The statement says colleagues described Castile as “a team player who maintained great relationships with staff and students alike.”

Superintendent Valeria Silva says she is “deeply sorry” for Castile’s family and calls him “one of our own.”

His uncle, Clarence, said the last time the two of them spoke was in May, when they talked about setting up a nest egg for Philando’s eventual retirement.

With additional reporting by the Associated Press and CNN.

Before You Leave, Check This Out