If you haven't heard by now, Philando Castile was driving with his girlfriend and her 4 year old daughter just outside of St. Paul, MN when they were pulled over by police. The reason? They were told they had a broken taillight. Now, from what I understand, when the officer got to the car it seemed like things were going pretty well. He explain why they were pulled over. Philando acknowledged that he understood and he revealed that he had a concealed handgun license. The officer then asked for his license and registration and as Castile moves in compliance, the cop yells and shoots Castile 4 times in the arm. During the chaos, the girlfriend/fiancé decided to do a live feed to document what has happened while continuing to comply with the officer's orders. All this happens with her 4 year old daughter in the back.
From what I gather from the video, the woman was shocked and scared and the officer was freaked out and upset. I feel he was very upset with himself because he knows he messed up. That kind of came evident with his yelling and saying over and over, "I told him to keep his hands up!" I think that not only was he yelling that to her he was trying to convince himself what he fell has happened, but he definitely knew reality. That's my opinion.
After learning about all this I became more saddened and eventually angry. Yes, I turned into an Angry Black Man. Now not like the stereotypical one who stares and yells all the time, just more subuded, yet the face shows the emotion at times.
One thing I know is after Sterling and Castile, after all of the officer shootings last year, and after the decades of racial profiling, I am absolutely scared!!! My wife is even more scared that her black husband could be pulled over and killed even when he is compliant. So I don't know how to be anymore. I now just drive or walk as carefully and as unsuspiciously as possible. It has become way to tricky now.
Below is the video of the aftermath. Take a look and derive your own opinion.
Hi Wil:
ReplyDeleteI don't pretend to know how it would be to walk in your shoes. I don't like the thought of you walking/driving scared. On the other hand, most folks don't know what it's like to walk in an officers shoes. Case in point with the shooting in Dallas. I remarked to my wife, "look at the people running away from the violence while the cops run towards it!" Reality is that most folks wouldn't and couldn't do their job. It takes a special person, especially if he/she is going to do the job right.
There are a lot of questions yet to be answered on the Castillo shooting. Ive listened to the witness provide several "different" versions. She claimed they were stopped for a tail light yet the officer is heard on a taped recording that the driver matched the description of an armed robbery suspect and he was going to stop and I.D. The I've heard her say he was shot, 3, 4 and 5 times. Then on the video she said the "white guy" did the shooting when in fact he was a Latino. The presence of a gun will put any police officer on high alert.That's why I didn't want the conceal and carry law passed in Minnesota. I told our elected officials that innocent kids and citizens would suffer as a result. Both have happened.
The video is very telling. I think he's in trouble if he didn't see the gun coming up and toward him. Remember, he's walking up to a car on high alert because "there's a possibility that this guy might be an armed robber" and then you throw a gun into the mix. Also, he's shouting because he just shot a man, the adrenalin is going and the female now has access to the same gun.
I believe most cops are basically good and try to make a difference. In Minnesota, when a Chief or Sheriff attempt to get rid of a bad one, the unions step in and normally prevail and get the person put back to work. I have stories that I could tell you.
I don't believe that most cops are prejudiced or racist.I do believe that a great number of them trend toward certain bias and the way cops work contributes to their bias. If you put a cop on a beat in a poor white community, black community, Asian community and the like and "leave them there" they start to develop a bad taste in their mouth. They simply don't understand how young people can be allowed to run around doing the gun and drug thing. And to put it bluntly, inner cities and poorer communities scare the hell out of cops every time you go in there to work a shift. I can't tell you how many times I came home from a bad situation, really shaken as a human being, then went and watched my kids sleep peacefully so that I could feel normal again.
There's so much more we should talk about, but we'll save it for another time.
Dave