Black Man Shot, Killed By Police After Following Orders (UPDATE)
July 6, 2016

It was another traffic stop. Philando Castile was driving with his girlfriend, Lavish Reynolds, when they were pulled over at a traffic stop for a broken taillight, according to a video Reynolds posted on Facebook just after he was shot.

The officer “asked him for license and registration,” she says. “He told him that it was in his wallet, but he had a pistol on him because he’s licensed to carry. The officer said don’t move. As he was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm four or five times.”

The video shows a uniformed police officer holding a pistol on the couple from outside the car. The officer can be heard to say, “I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hand out.”

“Please don’t tell me my boyfriend’s gone,” she says. ”He don’t deserve this, please. He works for St. Paul Public Schools. He’s never been in jail, anything. He’s not a gang member, anything.”

According to reports since she posted the video, Mr. Castile died at the hospital.

This happens every day. The only difference in this case is that she took video, documented her story and posted it to Facebook.

Pay special attention to the fact that Castile was armed, but carried a permit, that he informed police he was armed before he reached for his wallet.

And now he is dead. Tell me something. If he had been white and armed, would he be dead?

The original video appears to have been pulled from Facebook, but this is the YouTube version of it.

UPDATE:

(In case you can't deal with watching the video)

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon