Philando Castile Officer Jeronimo Yanez Charged

Officer Jeronimo Yanez has been charged in the shooting death of Philando Castile.

Philando Castile Officer Jeronimo Yanez Charged

St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez, who shot Philando Castile in July, has now been charged in the shooting.

Officer Jeronimo Yanez had stopped Philando Castile after believing that Castile matched the description of a suspect in a robbery that he had been investigating. Officer Yanez reportedly told Castile that he was stopped for a taillight violation to prevent him from knowing that he was a suspect in the robbery. Officer Yanez’s patrol partner, Officer Joseph Kauser, was present at the time. Immediately after the shooting, Castile’s girlfriend and passenger, Diamond Reynolds, started livestreaming the event on Facebook while narrating what was happening.

Reynolds painted a disturbing picture: Officer Yanez asked Castile for his identification. Philando Castile told Officer Yanez that he had his concealed carry permit. Castile then reached for his wallet and was shot. In the video, Officer Yanez was left screaming “I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hand off it.”

Officer Jeronimo Yanez believed that he was dealing with an armed robbery suspect when Philando Castile told him that he was armed at that moment. Officer Yanez repeatedly told Castile not to pull his gun out as Castile continued to reach for his pocket before Officer Yanez shot Castile seven times.

NY Times reports that the Ramsey County attorney, John J. Choi, said, “No reasonable officer — knowing, seeing and hearing what Officer Yanez did at the time — would have used deadly force under these circumstances.” Because of that, Officer Yanez is being charged with two felony counts of intentional discharge of a dangerous weapon.

Without having the all of the details, it’s not clear to us if Officer Yanez’s decision was truly unreasonable, considering his training and experience and the circumstances known to him at the time, or if this is a politically motivated prosecution. The prosecutors did take the time to for the investigation to be done before making a charging decision, but statements made to the press point to factors that would have been irrelevant or unknown to Officer Yanez at the time.

“His dying words were in protest that he wasn’t reaching for his gun,” Mr. Choi said. Who also noted that there was not bullet in the chamber of Castile’s pistol (but it was presumably loaded.)

Choi’s statements suggest that the charging decision may have been influenced by the knowledge known after the fact, rather than what was known to Officer Yanez at the time. However, this alone does not mean that the charges are not appropriate.

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