“Do not be confrontational and cooperate”.
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“These two deaths are the latest in a troubling trend of disturbing videos involving law enforcement and black men”, Scott wrote.
Dennis Flaherty, executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, called Gov. Mark Dayton’s comments an “extraordinarily presumptive conclusion” that could lead to more violence.
Yanez, who is of Mexican descent, is cooperating fully with the state’s investigation into the shooting, Kelly said.
An attorney for the police officer who fatally shot a black man in suburban Minneapolis earlier this week said Saturday that the cop’s reaction “had nothing to do with race”.
Castile was shot in Falcon Heights, a mostly white community of 5,000 served primarily by the nearby St. Anthony Police Department.
In 2014, the department selected Yanez to be part of a special crime prevention unit, whose members were hand-picked based on “their initiative, creativeness and varied backgrounds in law enforcement”, according to the department’s annual report.
The previous year’s report includes a photo of Yanez solemnly standing guard at a memorial to fallen officers at the state Capitol.
An attorney for Castile’s family, Larry Rogers, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on Kelly’s remarks.
Protesters have been camped out in front of Dayton’s mansion for three days, demanding justice.
Police scanner recordings obtained by a local Minneapolis news station reveals that St. Anthony police officers pulled over Philando Castile not because of a busted tail light but because he looked similar to a robbery suspect due to his “wide nose”. The agency said Yanez opened fire, striking Castile multiple times.
That information might not have mattered during their confrontations with police, Smith said. “I don’t think it would have”, Dayton said to a crowd gathered outside his residence Thursday. He says he wants to get input from people “on the front lines”. He says change can’t be a top-down approach and needs to come from the community level.
A statement from Dallas police chief David Brown released by a city spokeswoman said “it appears that two snipers shot ten police officers from elevated positions during the protest/rally”.
“Until there is a call for reorganization of policing practices, not just small changes, then it’s very hard to call this a turning point”, she said.
Castile was shot Wednesday during a traffic stop. His girlfriend broadcast the minutes after the shooting on Facebook. The school cafeteria supervisor was shot “for no apparent reason” while reaching for his wallet during a traffic stop, after telling the officer he had a gun and a permit to carry it, his girlfriend said in the video.
State investigators named the two officers involved in the Minnesota shooting as Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser.
Yanez and Kauser, both four-year veterans, were put on administrative leave, as is standard, authorities said. Authorities said several videos, including squad auto video, have been collected, though St. Anthony officers don’t wear body cameras. But he said the ongoing investigation was a top priority and that he would decide whether to turn it over to a grand jury after investigators presented their findings to his office. Security measures were heightened after a peaceful protest, over th…
Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, said he told the officer during a traffic stop that he was carrying a gun for which he was licensed. This is bigger than Trayvon Martin.
As rancor grew, a handful of violent incidents against police arose across the country, including the shooting of an officer in Valdosta, Georgia.
Black Lives Matter organizers condemned the violence in Dallas, and police haven’t given any indication that the shooter had anything to do with the group.
Castile’s family is calling for an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, independent of the state probe by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
“It’s not that the incidents are new”, he said, “it’s our ability to see them”.
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Philando Castile, 32, was killed Wednesday during a routine traffic stop in Falcon Heights, which is overseen by the St. Anthony Police Department.
