Minnesota man killed in car during traffic violation for busted tail light.

If the officer has a gun trained on her and is requiring her to remain in her seat and keep her hands visible, I imagine she didn't really have the option to try to help.

 

Statement from Saint Paul Public Schools about Philando Castile
Saint Paul Public Schools and its staff grieve the tragic death of a former student and current employee, Philando Castile.

He graduated from Central High School in 2001 and had worked for Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) since he was 19 years old, beginning in 2002, in the Nutrition Services Department.

Mr. Castile was promoted to a supervisory position two years ago and was currently working in one of our schools during the summer term.

Colleagues describe him as a team player who maintained great relationships with staff and students alike. He had a cheerful disposition and his colleagues enjoyed working with him. He was quick to greet former coworkers with a smile and hug.

One coworker said, “Kids loved him. He was smart, over-qualified. He was quiet, respectful, and kind. I knew him as warm and funny; he called me his 'wing man.' He wore a shirt and tie to his supervisor interview and said his goal was to one day 'sit on the other side of this table.’”

Those who worked with him daily said he will be greatly missed.

"I am deeply sorry for his family and for their loss. He's worked in SPPS for many years and he graduated from our district, so he was one of our own," said SPPS Superintendent Valeria Silva.

Grief counselors will be available for staff and students as needed or requested.

The Saint Paul Public Schools family extends its deepest sympathy to Mr. Castile's family and loved ones.

http://www.spps.org/site/default.as...9ED6C2A&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=42665&PageID=1

 

The deadly shooting of 32-year-old Philando Castile by a cop during a routine traffic stop in Minnesota on Wednesday just got murkier.

Multiple sources have told The Register that police removed video footage of Castile's death from Facebook, potentially tampering with evidence.

Castile, his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter were pulled over by police in the Falcon Heights suburb of Minneapolis for a broken tail light. Using her cellphone and Facebook Live, Reynolds web-streamed footage of her dying boyfriend after he was shot by a police officer as he reached for his ID in his wallet. The video was mysteriously removed from her Facebook profile as it went viral across the internet.

On Thursday, Facebook said a “technical glitch" caused the recording to be pulled from its social network. However, Reynolds claimed officers seized her phone and took over her Facebook account to delete the evidence.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the event have tonight confirmed to The Register that someone – highly suspected to be the city's police – used her phone to remove her recording from public view shortly after the shooting.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/08/castile_shooting_police_deletion/

 

That's some corrupt shit

 

This was on a friend's facebook post. Multiple caveats:
1. I don't read the Conservative Treehouse, so there very well could be some bias. I just hadn't seen some of the points made in here elsewhere.
2. I've not followed much on these shootings b/c of other things going on this week around the world, but I saw DL Hughley's interview and some of the CNN coverage of Dallas.
3. In no way should a guy's actions in the past dictate Rules of Engagement on Deadly Force. Either you're defending yourself from imminent death or serious bodily harm or you're not. If not, it doesn't matter if he's a serial-raping axe murderer, you don't get to kill him.
4. I don't care how much a family has raised after their loved one has been killed. I care about the killing and the events leading to it.

Those said:
1. There seems to be a huge difference (IF TRUE) in pulling over a BOLO suspect in an armed robbery and "pulling over b/c of a busted taillight," and a concomitant increase in threat. One probably doesn't expect a traffic stop to escalate into violence, whereas trying to apprehend an armed robbery suspect (of any race) has a lot more risk associated.
2. There seem to be multiple inconsistencies with both the video feeds and the "testimony". Has there been dash-cam footage or dispatch tapes or officer testimony released on this case, or are we just hearing one side (from the cell phone video)?
3. My situational anecdotes on stuff like this are military, not police, but if an armed robbery suspect has a gun partially concealed on his thigh, and the policemen thinks he's reaching for it, doesn't that change the narrative on this a bit? Especially if it's a potential apprehension for an armed robbery, not a taillight?

Regardless, it's horrible that people are being killed when it should be an apprehension. It sucks that other police officers in 4 other cases in the last couple of days have been targeted due in part to the thought the black men are being discriminately targeted.