In the presence of his girlfriend and her little daughter! Less than 24
hours after Alton Sterling was shot to death by Baton Rogue cops,
another black man, 32-year-old Philando Castile died Wednesday
night after being shot several times by a police officer in Falcon
Heights, Minnesota.
Shocking footage of the aftermath of the shooting
went viral after Castile’s girlfriend Lavish Reynolds live-streamed his
death on Facebook.
In the video, Lavish Reynolds said she and
her boyfriend, Philando Castile, were pulled over for a busted tail
light by a police officer. She claims the cop asked Castile, a
cafeteria supervisor at a school in St Paul, to show his license, but
then shot him four times while he reached for it.
As she talks, she
moves the camera across to show Castile, bloody and losing
consciousness, and the cop – still pointing his gun. Sounding like he
was close to tears, the cop shouted, ‘I told him not to reach for it!. I
told him to get his hand open.’
Visibly shaken Lavish then said,
‘You told him to get his ID, sir, you told him to get his driver’s
license,’ When she noticed he had stopped moving, she reacted saying ‘Oh
god, don’t tell me he’s dead. ‘Please don’t tell me my boyfriend just
went like that… please don’t tell me that he’s gone.’
The cop
requested that she should keep her hands where they are and she agreed.
Backup officers then arrived, handcuffed and put her alongside her
little daughter in a police car. According to them, they had to detain
her until they sorted everything out. In the police car she began to
request for people to come and bail her as her phone battery was about
to die. Finally, Reynolds – who has mostly kept it together throughout
the incident – breaks down while her daughter consoles her, saying ‘It’s
okay. I’m right here with you.’
Castile was taken to Hennepin
County Medical Center where he was confirmed dead and the officer
responsible for his death has been placed on administrative leave.
