Philando Castile Shooting Dashcam Video

Now that the trial is complete, the have released the dashcam video. You can view it here.

My opinion that the jury got the decision right stands. This is a case where details matter. When you see the incident unfold, it is a normal traffic stop and nobody seems particularly agitated. Then Castile says this:

After that, the officer tells him not to reach for it. While the video does not show what’s happening inside the car, everyone agrees that Castile was reaching for something. The officer repeats his order to not reach for it. Castile keeps reaching. The officer opens fire.

While Castile did not tell the officer he had a firearm in an aggressive way, he said it and then began reaching for something. That was the fatal mistake. The officer has to react based on his actions – not on what he said. The evidence is that Castile said he had a gun and then began reaching. It was a horrible, tragic mistake. It is also a mistake that one wonders if it might have been avoided had Castile not been high on pot at the time.

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1258, 21 June 2017

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Law

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Philando Castile

7 Comments

jjf on June 22, 2017 at 8:26 am

You link to your previous writing where you say:

First, Castile properly declared that he had a gun in the vehicle. He did it calmly, but he did not specify that he had a concealed carry permit.

Today you write:

While Castile did tell the officer he had a firearm in an aggressive way, he said it and then began reaching for something.

Why did your interpretation change?

Cops deal with the intoxicated all the time.

“I thought he was reaching for something.” A cop gets nervous doing something he does multiple times a day, gets a pass on making mistakes. A citizen who is rarely pulled-over gets nervous, gets shot.
Owen on June 22, 2017 at 10:53 am

Thanks for pointing that out. It’s a typo on my part. That sentence should read, “While Castile did NOT tell the officer he had a firearm in an aggressive way, he said it and then began reaching for something.”

I’ve corrected it in the post.
jjf on June 22, 2017 at 11:31 am

So he could’ve been reaching for his permit, and made the mistake of not explaining what he was doing.

If he’d already produced his license and insurance, does that mean he might’ve kept the permit somewhere else? Did he think he was supposed to produce the weapon?

In your previous piece, you say:

I had one officer in Texas once ask me to surrender my firearm for the duration of the stop, which I did.

Doesn’t that request present significant risks? The officer is asking you to reach for something. He doesn’t know for sure whether you’re a good actor or a bad actor. Why is your easy access to a weapon less risky than the officer’s decision in this case?
Jason on June 22, 2017 at 3:52 pm

>If he’d already produced his license and insurance, does that mean he might’ve kept the permit somewhere else? Did he think he was supposed to produce the weapon?

I watched the video, and the officer made it pretty clear to not grab anything – at least twice.

>Doesn’t that request present significant risks? The officer is asking you to reach for something. He doesn’t know for sure whether you’re a good actor or a bad actor. Why is your easy access to a weapon less risky than the officer’s decision in this case?

Owen hasn’t elaborated, but if I were an officer and during a traffic stop the driver or a passenger said, I was told there is a legally licensed firearm in the vehicle, I would remove the people and then secure the firearm myself. That’s likely what Owen did, rather than continue reaching for something after being commanded to stop.

Are you trying to make this a racial thing – is that your end game here jjf?
jjf on June 22, 2017 at 4:52 pm

I wish I had some insight into what he was actually doing with his hands.

From the transcript and a WashPo story:

Yanez: “I, believe I continued to tell him don’t do it or don’t reach for it and he still continued to move. And, it appeared to me that be had no regard to what I was saying. He didn’t care what I was saying. He still reached down. … And, at that point I, was scared and I was, in fear for my life and my partner’s life. And for the little girl in the back and the front seat passenger and he dropped his hand down and, can’t remember what I was telling him but I was telling something as his hand went down I think. And, he put his hand around something. And his hand made like a C shape type um type shape and it appeared to me that he was wrapping something around his fingers and almost like if I were to put my uh hand around my gun like putting my hand up to the butt of the gun.”
Investigator: “Okay.”
Yanez: “That’s what it appeared to me.”
[…]
Yanez then said he kept seeing Castile moving his hand and “saw something in his hand,” adding that the driver “had no regard for what I was saying. Didn’t follow my direction.”
[…]
Yanez, though, said he believed Castile had grabbed a gun:

“I know he had an object and it was dark. And he was pulling it out with his right hand. And as he was pulling it out I, a million things started going through my head. And I thought I was gonna die. And, I was scared because, I didn’t know if he was gonna, I didn’t know what he was gonna do. He just had somethin’ uh his hands and he, the first words that he said to me were, some of the first words he said is that he had a gun. And I thought he was reaching for the gun. I thought he had the gun in his hand, in his right hand. And I thought he had it enough to where all he had to do is just pull it out, point it at me, move his trigger finger down on the trigger and let off rounds. And I had no other option than, to take out my firearm and, and I shot. Um I shot him.”
jjf on June 22, 2017 at 5:09 pm

David French’s piece at National Review seems to say that Castille has first produced his insurance card, not his driver’s license. And…

If you read carefully, you’ll note that it appears that the officer shot Castile for doing exactly what the officer told him to do. Yanez asked for Castile’s license. Castile told him that he had a gun, and the officer – rather than asking for his carry permit, or asking where the gun was, or asking to see Castile’s hands – just says, “Don’t reach for it then.” At that point, Castile is operating under two commands. Get his license, and don’t reach for his gun. As Castile reaches for his license (following the officer’s orders), and he assures him that he’s not reaching for the gun (also following the officer’s orders). The entire encounter, he assures Yanez that he’s following Yanez’s instructions.
Owen on June 22, 2017 at 10:02 pm

To elaborate further on my experience, if you’re interested… the one time I was pulled over and was asked to surrender my weapon was 20 years ago in Texas. The officer was cordial and I handed him my weapon after being asked to do so by the officer. He handed it back to me after giving me a warning. I never exited the vehicle. In hindsight, it all seems quite ill-advised on the part of the officer, but it was a different time and different culture.

Since then, I have been pulled over several times with a weapon on me in more than one state (I am often armed and I have a lead foot). That’s why I took particular interest in looking through the details of this case. I follow the same procedure: turn on the dome light, keep my hands on the steering wheel until instructed otherwise, hand the officer my license and concealed carry permit when asked for it, make eye contact… at this point, the officer usually asks if I am currently armed and where the weapon is. I tell him/her and we go about our business. I’ve never had an issue.