Officer who shot Philando Castile will face charges

By Amber Randall, DCNF dc-news-300x71

The police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile will now face manslaughter charges, officials announced Wednesday morning.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi declared that officer Jeronimo Yanez has been charged with second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm, reports the Star Tribune.

Choi said he reached the conclusion that “use of deadly force by Officer Yanez was not justified.”

St. Anthony officer Yanez fatally shot Castile during a traffic stop July 6 after pulling him over for a broken tail light. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, live streamed the aftermath of the shooting onto Facebook.

Reynolds maintained that Yanez shot Castile after he informed the officer that he had a gun on him, but was licensed to carry. She said that Yanez shot him when Castile reached into his pocket to hand over his identification.

“It is not enough … to express subjective fear of death or great bodily harm,” Choi said when explaining how Yanez’s actions did not meet a legal standard for warranted use of deadly force.

Choi and his officer began reviewing the incident Sept. 28 when Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension gave him their own findings.

Choi also did not turn to a grand jury to decide on charges, instead deciding on charges himself, Choi said during the press conference.

Follow Amber on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles