Police audio suggests officer Jeronimo Yanez killed Philando Castile because he fit the profile of a robber, but Yandez Attorney say’s it’s all about the gun, not the race
Leaked audio has one of the two cops pofiling victim – ‘The driver looks more like one of our suspects, just because of the wide-set nose’
Philando Castile killed because his nose matched a robber’s , by At Anthony cop, Jeronimo Yandez a a few days before his 33rd birthday
Philando Castile and his mother, Valerie Castile, she addressed the media today.
Newly obtained audio evidence is suggesting that the incident that led to the shooting death of 32-year-old Philando Castile by Officer Jeronimo Yandez, was anything but a routine traffic stop.
When patrol officer Yandez, a 4 year veteran of the St. Anthony Police Department, spotted a white Oldsmobile cruising down Larpenteur Avenue, just blocks from the Minnesota he decided the car looked suspicious. He radioed to a nearby squad that he was going to pull it over and check IDs of the driver and passenger.
“The two occupants just look like people that were involved in a robbery,” he said casually, according to police audio obtained by the Star Tribune. “The driver looks more like one of our suspects, just because of the wide-set nose. I couldn’t get a good look at the passenger.”
Philando Castile was fatally shot by police officer Yandez while reaching for his hip pockect in compliance with the order to provide his ID
He had told a nearby officer he’d wait for him to make the stop. That was about 9:04 p.m. last Wednesday. But what transpired in the next 103 seconds leading to the death of the male driver of the oldsmobile has became the subject of international scrutiny, rising to wide spread protests across the nation. Apolarizing force that has created a divide amongst the pundits
The only clear facts to date is that officers, Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser, did pull over the car with its occupants Philando Castile, his fiancee Diamond reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter.
Less than two minutes later, officer Yanez fatally shot the male occupant Castile. The passenger, Ms Reynolds, filmed and streamed the aftermath on Facebook Live, as officer stood in front of the car hysterical with his gun all the while pointed at her.
Reynolds was broadcasting in real time as her boyfriend, his white T-shirt soaked with blood, bled out. In the back seat, Reynolds’ 4-year-old daughter watched quietly.
“Code three!” screamed a frantic officer to dispatch, the request code for emergency responders. “Shots fired!”‘Driver at gunpoint’
Patrol officers Joseph Kauser (l) and Jeronimo Yanez (r), effected the traffic stop leading to the death of Philando Castile. Officer Yanez fired the fatal shot on Castile
Events immediately preceding the time between the stop and the shooting is unavailable from police and other emergency audio recordings of the events of July 6, but, the recordings indicatea frantic aftermath. Kauser ifirst heard calmly calling in the shooting to a dispatcherb at 9:06.:
“Shots fired,” “Larpenteur and Fry.”
“Copy,” replied the dispatcher. “You just heard it?”
Then a near hysterical Yanez can be heard “Code three!”
Dispatch cfilled the details of subsequent police action
“One adult female being taken into custody,” reported an officer. “Driver at gunpoint. Juvenile female, child, is with [another officer]. We need a couple other squads to block off intersections.”
“All officers are good,” an officer called in. “One suspect that needs medics.”
Meanwhile, Reynolds’ Facebook video rapidly circulated through social media.The missing 103 seconds
Diamond Reynolds live streamed on Facebook, a panicked Yandez still had his gun trained on her, meanwhile Castile bled out, unattended.
The investigation will likely come down to events of those 103 seconds, which already are being hotly disputed.
However, in her now virile Facebook video, which begins after the shooting, Reynolds says the officers pulled them over for a broken taillight. Reynolds also says Castile told Yanez he was legally carrying a firearm, and the officer shot him “for no reason” when Castile reached for his wallet.
“Please don’t tell me he’s dead,” says Reynolds, her voice rising, as Castile droops lifelessly in the car seat.
“I told him not to reach for it!” screams Yanez. “I told him to get his hand open!” to which Reynolds immediately responds ” you asked him to show his ID and drivers license”Neither Yanez nor Kauser makes mention of a taillight in their dispatches, furthermore, the claim that Castile did have a license to carry a firearm has been confirmed.
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Diamond Reynolds ‘ they [cops] hauled me off to jail for 16 hours as if I brought this on myself, seperated from my [4-year-old] daughter”
Yanez has retained attorney Thomas Kelly, who said his client believed Castile was a robbery suspect:
“This has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with the presence of a gun,” “Deadly force would not have been used if not for the presence of a gun.” Kelly said.
It was mot immediately clear what specific robbery incident or which robbery suspects police believed Castile and Reynolds resembled.
Albert Goins, an attorney who assisted the Castile family in the hours following the shooting, said that if Castile were indeed a robbery suspect, officers would have initiated a felony traffic stop, which “does not usually involve officers walking up to your car and asking you to produce your driver’s license.”“A felony stop involves bringing the suspect out at gunpoint while officers are in a position of cover and having them lie on the ground until they can identify who that individual is,” he said.
With regard to the audio, Goins said, “I can’t imagine that it’s reasonable suspicion to make a stop because somebody had a broad nose.”
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