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US officer charged in shooting death of Philando Castile

By AFP
16 November 2016   |   7:02 pm
The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot 32-year-old African American Philando Castile in an incident caught in video footage that shocked the nation, was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter.
 Philando Castile

Philando Castile

The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot 32-year-old African American Philando Castile in an incident caught in video footage that shocked the nation, was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter.

Officer Jeronimo Yanez was also charged with two felony counts of intentional discharge of a dangerous weapon, for endangering the safety of Castile’s girlfriend Diamond Reynolds and their four-year-old daughter, both of whom were in the car when he was shot during a traffic stop.

The July 6 shooting was partially captured on video shot by Reynolds and broadcast on Facebook Live, sparking protests across the United States. In it Castile can be seen bleeding to death in the driver’s seat.

“Based upon our thorough and exhaustive review of the facts of this case, it is my conclusion that the use of deadly force by Officer Yanez was not justified, and that sufficient facts exist to prove this to be true,” said John Choi, the Ramsey County Attorney whose office is prosecuting the case.

According to Reynolds’s account, she and Castile were pulled over on a traffic stop, and Castile had told the officer that he was licensed to carry a gun and was reaching for his wallet when shot.

Choi told a news conference in announcing the charges: “Unreasonable fear cannot justify the use of deadly force. The use of deadly force must be objectively reasonable and necessary given the totality of circumstances.”

Yanez is expected to turn himself in on Friday, when he will make his first appearance in criminal court.

Castile’s shooting shocked the nation, coming just a day after a graphic video of another police shooting of an African-American man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Both incidents further exposed tensions between police and African Americans, triggering “Black Lives Matter” protests throughout the country.

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