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| Philando Castile’s Last Night: Tacos and Laughs, Then a Drive | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| MINNEAPOLIS — Philando Castile had just finished getting his hair styled last Wednesday when he called his sister, Allysza, and offered to deliver dinner to the suburban house she shares with their mother. | MINNEAPOLIS — Philando Castile had just finished getting his hair styled last Wednesday when he called his sister, Allysza, and offered to deliver dinner to the suburban house she shares with their mother. |
| Over a meal of Taco Bell takeout, the two siblings alternated between laughter and serious discussions, including about the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by the police in Louisiana. | Over a meal of Taco Bell takeout, the two siblings alternated between laughter and serious discussions, including about the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by the police in Louisiana. |
| “We talked about all this stuff: ‘Did you see that video on Facebook of the man getting killed?’” Ms. Castile recalled in an interview Tuesday. “I said, ‘No, I didn’t watch it, bro. I refuse to watch another video.’” | |
| After a while, Mr. Castile left, and his sister fell asleep. Her brother had apparently gone back to his apartment in St. Paul to pick up his girlfriend, and then shopped at a grocery store. Before he made it home, two St. Anthony police officers saw him driving a wide-bodied Oldsmobile and pulled him over on Larpenteur Avenue near the state fairgrounds in the tiny, majority-white suburb of Falcon Heights. | After a while, Mr. Castile left, and his sister fell asleep. Her brother had apparently gone back to his apartment in St. Paul to pick up his girlfriend, and then shopped at a grocery store. Before he made it home, two St. Anthony police officers saw him driving a wide-bodied Oldsmobile and pulled him over on Larpenteur Avenue near the state fairgrounds in the tiny, majority-white suburb of Falcon Heights. |
| “When I woke up from my nap,” Ms. Castile said through tears, “all hell had been broken out.” | “When I woke up from my nap,” Ms. Castile said through tears, “all hell had been broken out.” |
| In that time, Mr. Castile, a quiet man who loved driving old cars, who passed the hours playing video games and who found his vocation serving lunch to schoolchildren, had been fatally shot by one of those officers. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was in the passenger seat, streamed the gruesome aftermath live on Facebook, challenging the officer’s claim that Mr. Castile had disobeyed his instructions. Ms. Reynolds said Mr. Castile, who was 32 and African-American, was only reaching for his identification when he was killed. | In that time, Mr. Castile, a quiet man who loved driving old cars, who passed the hours playing video games and who found his vocation serving lunch to schoolchildren, had been fatally shot by one of those officers. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was in the passenger seat, streamed the gruesome aftermath live on Facebook, challenging the officer’s claim that Mr. Castile had disobeyed his instructions. Ms. Reynolds said Mr. Castile, who was 32 and African-American, was only reaching for his identification when he was killed. |
| The video sparked almost immediate outrage and protests, raising questions about the role of race in the traffic stop and in the reaction by the officer, later identified as Jeronimo Yanez. | The video sparked almost immediate outrage and protests, raising questions about the role of race in the traffic stop and in the reaction by the officer, later identified as Jeronimo Yanez. |
| The official version of what happened remains largely opaque, with no radio traffic or dashboard camera footage released by the authorities, and only the vaguest outline of events provided by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the agency that is investigating. Thomas Kelly, the lawyer for Officer Yanez, has said that his client had more reason to pull him over than a problematic taillight mentioned by Ms. Reynolds in the Facebook video, and that it was the presence of a gun that prompted him to shoot. | The official version of what happened remains largely opaque, with no radio traffic or dashboard camera footage released by the authorities, and only the vaguest outline of events provided by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the agency that is investigating. Thomas Kelly, the lawyer for Officer Yanez, has said that his client had more reason to pull him over than a problematic taillight mentioned by Ms. Reynolds in the Facebook video, and that it was the presence of a gun that prompted him to shoot. |
| As demonstrators have marched in recent days, Ms. Castile and her mother, Valerie, have been left to plan a funeral, now set for Thursday, and plot the start of a course that they hope will lead to better police training, changes to state law and jail time for Officer Yanez. Valerie Castile said she believed her son had told Officer Yanez that he had a permit to carry a gun, and that he was armed, before the policeman saw his weapon and opened fire. | As demonstrators have marched in recent days, Ms. Castile and her mother, Valerie, have been left to plan a funeral, now set for Thursday, and plot the start of a course that they hope will lead to better police training, changes to state law and jail time for Officer Yanez. Valerie Castile said she believed her son had told Officer Yanez that he had a permit to carry a gun, and that he was armed, before the policeman saw his weapon and opened fire. |
| “All I can say is that I don’t know anywhere on this planet where if you tell the truth and are honest, you die,” said Valerie Castile, who said she believed her son had been racially profiled by the police in this region for years, amassing at least 52 traffic or parking cases recorded in a state court database. “If this is where humanity is headed to, we’re doomed.” | “All I can say is that I don’t know anywhere on this planet where if you tell the truth and are honest, you die,” said Valerie Castile, who said she believed her son had been racially profiled by the police in this region for years, amassing at least 52 traffic or parking cases recorded in a state court database. “If this is where humanity is headed to, we’re doomed.” |
| Valerie Castile and her lawyer, Glenda Hatchett, called on Tuesday for a special prosecutor to take over the case, asked the Justice Department to again consider starting its own investigation and fielded a phone call from Air Force One in which President Obama offered his condolences. | Valerie Castile and her lawyer, Glenda Hatchett, called on Tuesday for a special prosecutor to take over the case, asked the Justice Department to again consider starting its own investigation and fielded a phone call from Air Force One in which President Obama offered his condolences. |
| Valerie Castile said she moved to Minnesota from the St. Louis area when her son was a toddler because this place seemed devoid of the blight and other problems that worried her in Missouri. | Valerie Castile said she moved to Minnesota from the St. Louis area when her son was a toddler because this place seemed devoid of the blight and other problems that worried her in Missouri. |
| And, in many ways, her son thrived here. As a teenager, she said, Mr. Castile took jobs fixing bikes and working at Blockbuster and Target stores. Not long after graduating from St. Paul public schools, he went to work for the school district in nutrition services, eventually earning a promotion to supervisor, the affection of the children and the name Mr. Phil from the students he served. “He loved his job,” Valerie Castile said. “He was an all-around good kid. He never got in trouble with me.” | And, in many ways, her son thrived here. As a teenager, she said, Mr. Castile took jobs fixing bikes and working at Blockbuster and Target stores. Not long after graduating from St. Paul public schools, he went to work for the school district in nutrition services, eventually earning a promotion to supervisor, the affection of the children and the name Mr. Phil from the students he served. “He loved his job,” Valerie Castile said. “He was an all-around good kid. He never got in trouble with me.” |
| But on the roadways, he found himself in trouble frequently. Of the 52 cases against him in the state’s court records system, all appeared traffic-related. Many were dismissed, some resulted in convictions, and none were for violations more serious than a misdemeanor. | But on the roadways, he found himself in trouble frequently. Of the 52 cases against him in the state’s court records system, all appeared traffic-related. Many were dismissed, some resulted in convictions, and none were for violations more serious than a misdemeanor. |
| Valerie Castile said she believed her son was targeted for the type of car he preferred — older ones that she said the police stereotyped as belonging to drug dealers — and the color of his skin. | Valerie Castile said she believed her son was targeted for the type of car he preferred — older ones that she said the police stereotyped as belonging to drug dealers — and the color of his skin. |
| “My position is that he shouldn’t have been stopped in the first place,” said Ms. Hatchett, the family lawyer, who said Tuesday that she would file a federal lawsuit against those responsible for Mr. Castile’s death. | “My position is that he shouldn’t have been stopped in the first place,” said Ms. Hatchett, the family lawyer, who said Tuesday that she would file a federal lawsuit against those responsible for Mr. Castile’s death. |
| In each of the three small suburbs patrolled by the St. Anthony police, less than 10 percent of the population is black. But data released by the city on Tuesday showed that a far higher percentage of the people ticketed or arrested by St. Anthony officers were African-American. | |
| Last year, around 19 percent of those cited by St. Anthony police were black, as were roughly 41 percent of people arrested by the department, a review of the city’s data showed. Those percentages do not include the large number of defendants whose race was unknown. | |
| St. Anthony officials did not respond to requests for clarification about whether the data they provided was for all cities patrolled by its officers or only Falcon Heights. | |
| Once Mr. Castile was pulled over last week, the family believes, the officer saw a gun, panicked and shot him unjustly. Minnesota law bars the authorities from confirming whether someone has a permit to carry a weapon, but Mr. Castile’s mother and sister both said he did. | |
| Allysza Castile said that she and her brother had taken a class to become certified to carry a gun, but that she had cautioned him not to carry his weapon so frequently, for fear of the police overreacting. | Allysza Castile said that she and her brother had taken a class to become certified to carry a gun, but that she had cautioned him not to carry his weapon so frequently, for fear of the police overreacting. |
| “I used to tell him all the time that I do not carry my gun on me,” she said, “because they will shoot first and ask questions later.” | “I used to tell him all the time that I do not carry my gun on me,” she said, “because they will shoot first and ask questions later.” |