Officer who shot Philando Castile found not guilty

[Ghostpanther]

They are brown people.

They are Latinos, people who have a nice tan. Some of the most beautiful people in the world are Creoles in my opinion. A mixture of African American, French and Latinos.

[Kellhound]

so?

There is jack shit of a difference. Belivieng someones reaching for a weapon, whether they actually are is irrelevant.
The person is going to react the exact same in both situations.

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well if your not proven guilty your de facto innocent

Like 'pics or it didn't happen'. If you cant prove it in court it might as well as not happened

No, if you are not guilty all it means is your guilt was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, it does not mean you are innocent.

[nacixems]

The cop was saying "stop reaching for it". Immediately after Castile told him he had a gun, the "it" is the gun. And Castile clearly tells the officer he is NOT reaching for the gun.

And it's just a couple of seconds from "stop reaching for it" to Castile's death. It's not like the officer gave him much time to hear and understand the order. You can't instantly comply with an order; it takes about half a second for your brain to hear it and process what was said, before you can start to change your action based on that information.

"A Jury found him Not Guilty". you where NOT in the jury room, you did not sit, in the court room for the entire trial. so really, this is all speculation on your part.. If you want to read anything into that, its all worthless because you just dont know. period.

just cause he said he was not reaching, maybe he was lying, maybe the cop got a different feeling. I would not give someone much time either. him or me. guess what. its him. every dam day.. . all this. second 1/2 second to change ur action, its like u think its a video game and every person is suppose to react within a given time span or a specific way. geshhh .

[Sharkconas]

They are brown people.

That's a common misconception about latinos some of us can be white or near it really depends on how much of native dna you have, but yes the majority of my ethnic group is brown.

[Pendulous]

"A Jury found him Not Guilty". you where NOT in the jury room, you did not sit, in the court room for the entire trial. so really, this is all speculation on your part.. If you want to read anything into that, its all worthless because you just dont know. period.

just cause he said he was not reaching, maybe he was lying, maybe the cop got a different feeling. I would not give someone much time either. him or me. guess what. its him. every dam day.. . all this. second 1/2 second to change ur action, its like u think its a video game and every person is suppose to react within a given time span or a specific way. geshhh .

He didn't say halt, he didn't say freeze. He just pulled the gun and fired. While his partner stood there, doing nothing, probably because he didn't feel threatened.

Does everyone realize what a jury is? I don't know, honestly, what it is outside of the U.S., but here? Twelve people, random, completely, normal people. No training, no licenses, no nothing. Just random people. They can be wrong.

[nacixems]

He didn't say halt, he didn't say freeze. He just pulled the gun and fired. While his partner stood there, doing nothing, probably because he didn't feel threatened.

Does everyone realize what a jury is? I don't know, honestly, what it is outside of the U.S., but here? Twelve people, random, completely, normal people. No training, no licenses, no nothing. Just random people. They can be wrong.

true, but they also can be right, i would suspect more right than 99% of the backwards .. after the fact... basement living folks here trying to prove he is guilty. fact still remains. "not guilty" good nite, good bye. cop lived, im ok. but keep twisting it so it fits your justification of guilt. fact still remains.. here.. i will say it again. "NOT GUILTY" .. maybe if you where on the jury, we could get some insight, but .. your not. so. all your words are just smoke.

[Hammerfest]

I don't think Philando Castile should have died and I think his death is profoundly tragic, but based on the audio I can see why Yanez was acquitted.

[elaina]

If you take the victim's actions and make him white, his chance of survival probably increases... (underlying systemic racism puts the cop more on edge, views victim as more of a threat etc) maybe by as much as 50 to 75% imo, but the course of action of blind reaching after stating he has a gun I think still gets a white or any race person killed or shot at a non negligible % of the time (perhaps even more with this cop in his face).

On the flip side, remove the gun from the situation entirely and the defendant's survival rate skyrockets probably higher than 99%. This is why i think the NRA has been silent. Without the issue of the gun in the car, there is almost zero chance this situation escalates close to the degree it did.

You can't instantly comply with an order; it takes about half a second for your brain to hear it and process what was said, before you can start to change your action based on that information.

I think STOP / DON'T is pretty straight forward as a basic command. The cop's not knowing where the gun is (as people defending the victim keep saying) only exacerbates the cop's fear of reaching of ANY kind.

As much of a failure of a cop the defendant was, the victim was still exhibiting pretty stupid behavior by going for the wallet without seeking further instruction (as every conceal and carry person has stated here).

[TITAN308]

On the flip side, remove the gun from the situation entirely and the defendant's survival rate skyrockets probably higher than 99%. This is why i think the NRA has been silent. Without the issue of the gun in the car, there is almost zero chance this situation escalates close to the degree it did.

Sure and if we remove 99% of the cars from the road we decrease traffic related deaths by 99%.

Can we ban the amount of food fat people eat why we are at it? I mean if we eliminate fat people god knows how many deaths per year we can avoid and save money on healthcare to boot.

[elaina]

Sure and if we remove 99% of the cars from the road we decrease traffic related deaths by 99%.

Can we ban the amount of food fat people eat why we are at it? I mean if we eliminate fat people god knows how many deaths per year we can avoid and save money on healthcare to boot.

Did I say to ban guns?

Did having the gun make him safer some how?

[Stormdash]

I don't think Philando Castile should have died and I think his death is profoundly tragic, but based on the audio I can see why Yanez was acquitted.

The audio was incredibly damning. Castile's tone was measured, cooperative, even submissive. There's absolutely no rational reason if he was even remotely a threat to have made a play to fire on the cops that he would have announced he was carrying in the first place. His dying words were "I wasn't reaching for it". The cop who was closest to Castile's side of the car showed absolutely no sign of sensing a threat from the man. Yanez is a flake, is what we have here, he panicked for no reason and recklessly took the life of the decedent.

[Hammerfest]

The audio was incredibly damning.

I agree with that.

[ToZion]

It amazes me how insensitive some of the people in this thread are. It's even more amazing how some people, who don't know anything about the situation, try to play judge, jury, and executioner.

[Spectral]

If you take the victim's actions and make him white, his chance of survival probably increases... (underlying systemic racism puts the cop more on edge, views victim as more of a threat etc) maybe by as much as 50 to 75% imo, but the course of action of blind reaching after stating he has a gun I think still gets a white or any race person killed or shot at a non negligible % of the time (perhaps even more with this cop in his face).

The work Roland Fryer did makes it pretty clear that police are not more likely to shoot black suspects.

I don't see any reason to believe that this is racially motivated.

On the flip side, remove the gun from the situation entirely and the defendant's survival rate skyrockets probably higher than 99%. This is why i think the NRA has been silent. Without the issue of the gun in the car, there is almost zero chance this situation escalates close to the degree it did.

I agree completely. The panicky response of the cop reflects poor judgment, low standards, and poor training, but in the absence of a weapon, this almost certainly doesn't happen.

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Sure and if we remove 99% of the cars from the road we decrease traffic related deaths by 99%.

Can we ban the amount of food fat people eat why we are at it? I mean if we eliminate fat people god knows how many deaths per year we can avoid and save money on healthcare to boot.

I mean, it's a hell of a lot easier to just not have a gun on your person.

I'm a pretty strong Second Amendment supporter, but I still think carrying a gun is basically a bad idea that's more likely to get you killed.

[elaina]

I don't see any reason to believe that this is racially motivated.

I don't think it was racially motivated . Nothing from the video showed me that what he did was out of malice or overt disrespect / distaste for black people, that he was racist, etc. He was actually quite cordial from the start until mention of the gun when his fight or flight kicked in. His nervous "Well don't reach for it.." (What I was most shocked by was how quickly things went so far south... less than 10 seconds).

However I think there is likely some degree of unconscious fear-based bias toward being on the defensive for this man around an african american, even if he doesn't have any ill will toward black people. It's more of a psychological learned response from the culture we live in. An unfortunate one.

[Hammerfest]

I'm one of those guys who plays it very quiet when I get pulled over. I don't completely trust the police because I know the police are ordinary, imperfect human beings. One of the things that Castile did that I would NOT have done was announce that I had a weapon in the car. Experts will tell you not to do that.

[I Push Buttons]

I'm one of those guys who plays it very quiet when I get pulled over. I don't completely trust the police because I know the police are ordinary, imperfect human beings. One of the things that Castile did that I would NOT have done was announce that I had a weapon in the car. Experts will tell you not to do that.

That video is retarded and the "deputy" in the video is retarded.

[Hammerfest]

That video is retarded and the "deputy" in the video is retarded.

Wow, that was insightful.

[I Push Buttons]

Wow, that was insightful.

He is literally arguing "be confrontational because the state is out to get you..." That is retarded.

He may as well have lead off with "Make sure the cops can see your AR-15 so they know you aren't to be trifled with!"

[Hammerfest]

He is literally arguing "be confrontational because the state is out to get you..." That is retarded.

He is literally telling you to be aware of your rights. Which is not retarded.

He may as well have lead off with "Make sure the cops can see your AR-15 so they know you aren't to be trifled with!"

He says the opposite... as I alluded to earlier.