'I don't want you to get shooted':
daughter of slain Minnesota man's girlfriend
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[June 23, 2017]
By Timothy Mclaughlin
(Reuters) - The young daughter of a woman
whose boyfriend was fatally shot by a Minnesota police officer last year
can be heard pleading with her mother to be quiet and cooperate with
police, saying "I don't want you to get shooted," newly released video
footage showed.
The video is from the interior of the police cruiser of the partner of
St. Anthony Police Department officer Jeronimo Yanez, who fatally shot
Philando Castile in July 2016 during a traffic stop. Castile was black
and Yanez is Hispanic.
The shooting death of Castile, 32, in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon
Heights triggered local protests and fueled debate across the country
over the appropriate use of force by law enforcement against minorities.
The aftermath of the shooting was broadcast on social media by Castile's
girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, whose then 4-year-old daughter was in the
back seat during the incident.
A jury last Friday declared Yanez not guilty of second-degree
manslaughter. Yanez had testified that he feared Castile was reaching
for a firearm he had disclosed he had in his possession.
The new footage of Reynolds' daughter was released by the Minnesota
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Tuesday, when authorities also
released dashcam footage of the shooting.
In the video, which starts after the shooting, Reynolds is sitting with
her young daughter in the squad car. The daughter can be heard asking
her mother not to curse.
"Mom, please stop saying cuss words and screaming, 'cause I don't want
you to get shooted," Reynolds' daughter pleads.
Reynolds responds: "OK, give me a kiss. My phone just died, that's all."
Her daughter responds, "I can keep you safe."
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A still image from police video shows Diamond Reynolds crying next
to her daughter while handcuffed in the back seat of a police patrol
vehicle, after her boyfriend Philando Castile was fatally shot by
St. Anthony Police Department officer Jeronimo Yanez during a
traffic stop in the Falcon Heights suburb of St Paul, Minnesota,
U.S. July 6, 2016. Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension/Handout
via REUTERS
Later in the video, Reynolds can be heard asking officers to remove
her handcuffs, but her daughter pleads for her not to have them
taken off.
"No, please don't, I don't want you to get shooted," her daughter
said in the video, which was posted on the Minneapolis StarTribune's
website.
http://www.startribune.com/video-i-don-t-want-you-to-get-shooted-daughter-pleads-to-mother-moments-after-castile-shooting/429948923/
As the video of Reynolds and her daughter spread online on Thursday,
many social media users and civil rights groups expressed shock and
outrage.
"Devastating video of #DiamondReynolds and her daughter. Words no
child should utter," The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for
Nonviolent Social Change (@TheKingCenter) said on Twitter.
Individuals also weighed in: "Didn't think #PhilandoCastile story
could get worse. Watched video of Diamond Reynolds' daughter trying
to comfort her. This has to stop." Lori Dziurda (@LDZbranch)
(Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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