Cop That Killed Philando Castile Did So Because Castile Was Smoking Weed In The Car With A Child

On Tuesday, the dash cam video showing the moments leading up to Philando Castile’s death was released online. In the video, you see officer Jeronimo Yanez approach Castile’s vehicle over a defective tail light. He asks Castile for his registration, in which Castile obliges. Castile also discloses that he is in possession of a firearm. In the dash cam footage, you hear Yanez tell Castile not to reach for the gun, in which Castile says he is not. Less than a second later, Yanez is unloading several shots into Castile’s vehicle and frantically screaming out obscenities.

Just seconds after the shots,  Yanez is still yelling at Castile to not move, despite the fact he was shot a half-dozen times. Castile’s girlfriend is heard in the car screaming and crying frantically, while her 5-year-old daughter runs out of the vehicle in the arms of Yanez’s partner.

In court, Yanez says he essentially feared for his life because if Castile had the audacity to smoke in the car with a young child, he clearly doesn’t care about anyone else.

“As he was pulling out his hand I thought I was gonna die and I thought if he’s, if he has the guts and the audacity to smoke marijuana in front of the five-year-old girl and risk her lungs and risk her life by giving her secondhand smoke and the front seat passenger doing the same thing then what, what care does he give about me. And, I let off the rounds and then after the rounds were off, the little girl was screaming.”

It’s ironic that Yanez was so concerned about the young girl’s health and well-being while wildly unloading 7 shots in close proximity to her.

Yanez also says that he assumed because the vehicle smelled like weed, that Castile had the gun on him to protect himself from drug dealers.

“And he’s reaching down and I believe I’m telling him something along the lines of don’t reach for it, don’t do it. Referring to the, uh the firearm. Because usually, people that carry firearms carry ’em on their waistband or in between the seats and being that the vehicle smelled like marijuana um I didn’t know if he was keeping it on him for protection, for, from a, a drug dealer or anything like that or any other people trying to rip him. Rip him meaning steal from him.”

You can read the rest of Yanez’s statements HERE.

Dash cam footage from the #philandocastile shooting has been released. (GRAPHIC) pic.twitter.com/51EcRjz85s

— BallerAlert (@balleralert) June 20, 2017