‘I don’t want you to get shooted’: Philando Castile video shows reaction of girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter
Newly released video shows Diamond Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter in a police squad car shortly after an officer fatally shot Reynolds’ boyfriend, Philando Castile, last year in Minnesota. Reynolds and the girl were in Castile’s car at the tim
A newly released video taken moments after the police shooting of Philando Castile last July in Minnesota shows his distraught girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, handcuffed in the back of a police car with her 4-year-old daughter.
“They got me handcuffed,” Reynolds says before wailing in distress.
“It’s OK, Mommy … it’s OK, I’m right here with you,” the girl replies, placing her hand on her mother’s shoulder.
The 4-year-old periodically cries during the video.
“Don’t cry, baby,” her mother says.
Reynolds was still of the belief that Castile could survive. “Is he OK?” she asks the police officer in the front seat of the car. “Is he dead?”
“I haven’t talked to the medics to be honest with you, ma’am,” the officer replies.
Reynolds asks the officer to retrieve her phone charger or remove her handcuffs. “Can you unlock it back here, because it really hurts and I can’t even hug my daughter,” she says.
Her daughter then reaches over and places her arms around her mother’s neck. “It’s OK,” she tells her mother.
The girl then tries to calm her mother.
“Mom, please stop cussing and screaming ’cause I don’t want you to get shooted,” she says.
“OK, give me a kiss. My phone just died, that’s all,” Reynolds replies.
“I wish this town was safer,” the girl tells her mother. “I don’t want it to be like this anymore.”
The video was released this week by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The Minneapolis Star Tribune posted 5 minutes and 18 seconds of it, which is embedded in this article. The Associated Press published a shorter version.
Castile, a 32-year-old school cafeteria manager, was killed after being pulled over by Officer Jeronimo Yanez in St. Anthony, Minn. With Reynolds in the passenger seat and her daughter in back, Castile calmly told the officer that he had a gun and was licensed to carry it. Moments later, Yanez shot him five times.
The shooting quickly became national news after Reynolds broadcast part of its aftermath on Facebook Live.
Yanez, who was put on trial for manslaughter, testified that he had feared for his life during the traffic stop. Last week he was found not guilty.
Follow me on Twitter @melissaetehad
UPDATES:
10:50 p.m.: This article has been updated to include a longer version of the video.
This article was originally published at 5:55 p.m.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
