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:
To give you some idea of this #FalconHeights video, here's what she says while in a cop car with her daughter. pic.twitter.com/p3OgI6poQl
— Michael Gold (@migold) July 7, 2016
(In case you can't deal with watching the video)
