In the moments after a Minnesota police officer fatally shot Philando Castile, his handcuffed girlfriend began screaming in the back of a patrol car as her 4-year-old daughter begged her to stop.
Squad car video from the July 2016 shooting shows Diamond Reynolds and her daughter in the cruiser, the Star Tribune reported Wednesday. In the video, the young girl repeatedly told her mother to keep quiet.
“Mom, please stop cussing and screaming cause I don’t want you to get shooted,” the girl said. Reynolds responded by asking for a kiss.
“I can keep you safe,” the girl told Reynolds at one point. “It’s OK,” Reynolds said before the girl begins to cry.
The video was among thousands of files released Wednesday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez, 29, was acquitted Friday of manslaughter in Castile’s death.
{{/usCountry}}The video was among thousands of files released Wednesday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez, 29, was acquitted Friday of manslaughter in Castile’s death.
{{/usCountry}}Castile, 32, was shot following a traffic stop in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights after informing Yanez he had a gun. Reynolds and the girl were both in the car at the time of the shooting.
The incident gained widespread attention because Reynolds livestreamed the gruesome aftermath of the shooting on Facebook.
Yanez testified that Castile ignored his commands not to pull out his gun and he feared for his life. Reynolds told authorities that Castile was reaching for his wallet, not the gun.
Castile had a permit to carry the weapon.
At another point in the video, the child asks her mother not to remove her handcuffs. Reynolds assures her that nothing else will happen that night.
“I wish this town was safer ... I don’t want it to be like this anymore” the girl said.
“Tell that to the police, OK?” Reynolds asked. “When they come and get me, tell them you wish that they didn’t have to kill people.”