I am not convinced we know what happened in that shooting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/us/police-shooting-castile-trial-video.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_J3sYIgvUE
The dashcam video does not show what Castile was doing, but it does not sound like the cop wanted him to reach anywhere after hearing Castile had a gun. The video inside the car started after the shooting - it’s quite a performance but it does not tell us what triggered the shooting. In the gap between Yanez asking for Castile’s driver’s license and insurance, Castile says he has a gun and is then told not to reach for it.
The problem is that “I have a gun” pretty much clears any normal cop’s mind of the fact that the cop just asked for license and insurance. In that situation, I would have put both hands on the dashboard before informing the cop that I had a permit and a weapon, and said that I was not going to move my hands until he told me exactly what he wanted me to do. Then any movements would have been ostentatiously slow. Give the cop complete control to reduce his nervousness.
With no view of what movement Castile made inside the car that triggered the shooting, I don’t think we know whether the shooting was justified. The jury voted for at least reasonable doubt, and it’s hard to argue with that. The police department no longer employs him, and it’s hard to argue with that also.
Best post here.
You can’t see what was going on, and without that, it is impossible to know what happened. The video and the audio are at odds. Castile was calm, and didn’t seem crazy or criminal, but it does seem something was going on visually that freaked the cop out. It seems as if had Castille put his hands on the wheel, and not moved, the shoot would not have happened.
Without seeing what Castille was doing, the only things left to look at are, did he have a CCW? The media says yes, but how often do they say things that aren’t true?
Was he on any drugs? Some have said blood tests said yes. Did the officer smell pot? Smelling drugs in a car and being told, “I do have a firearm,” Could be problematic. If you are going to carry, no pot, no alcohol, and don’t do anything illegal.
Absent any other info, there is nothing to mull over in this, so the NRA couldn’t get involved.
Well, as has already been pointed out, "I have a gun" wasn't his language. The words he used and the way he said it was clearly meant to not portray a threat.
I've been through the courses. They tell you that if you get pulled over you should inform the officer that you have a permit and a weapon. That's what he was doing.
Could the communication, both ways, have been clearer? Absolutely. But we often hear that police have to make split second decisions. Well that applies to the people they interact with as well. The police at least ought to have some training for it.
As for your comments about putting both hands in view when informing the officer, that's absolutely correct. Haven't gotten pulled over yet, but if it happens that's what I intend to do.
One interesting link that makes the case Castile was a Crip:
If he was a Crip, all bets are off.
It is possible this was not a random stop, and the officer had a briefing before it he is not talking about. On the TV show FBI Files, FBI does get uniformed officers to do seemingly innocent stops on bad guys, to make them more compliant during arrest than they might be if the FBI swooped in with force to do the arrest openly. Stop them for not signaling, ask to search tem for officer safety, then put the cuffs on, and then tell them they are under arrest.
If this was supposed to be some sort of controlled arrest, and the officer was briefed that Castile was a bad guy, it could have affected his view of things as they unfolded too.
‘The problem is that “I have a gun” pretty much clears any normal cop’s mind of the fact that the cop just asked for license and insurance.’
And that is the real problem. Civilians are required to think like a cop— worse, like a cop with really bad training and a really bad attitude towards civilians (not to mention blacks).
How about a cop that thinks like a civilian? The driver had his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s young daughter in the car. A second police officer is present, which the driver is presumably aware of by that time.
Is the driver likely to start a shooting war with an armed cop in that situation?
If you listen to the tape closely the cop is still frothing at the mouth several minutes after the shooting.
Meanwhile, the girlfriend accurately recorded the events on her facebook live video, even after her boyfriend got shot and she risked getting shot herself, and even while being arrested and worrying about her young daughter.
Listen to the foul language that the officer used during the shooting and several minutes afterwards, in the presence of a young child who could have been the victim’s daughter. Is that the language of someone who is collected and in control?