Hi there,

This month, Democracy Now! marks 29 years of fearless independent journalism. Presidents have come, gone and come back again, but Democracy Now! remains, playing the same critical role in our democracy: shining a spotlight on corporate and government abuses of power and raising up the voices of scholars, advocates, scientists, activists, artists and ordinary people working for a more peaceful and just world. If our journalism is important to you, please donate today in honor of our 29th anniversary. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much.

Democracy Now!

Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Minnesota: Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile

HeadlineJun 19, 2017

In Minnesota, protesters took to the streets Sunday for a third straight day after a St. Anthony police officer was acquitted Friday in the killing of a black motorist he shot five times during a traffic stop last year. Officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted on charges of manslaughter for killing African American Philando Castile. The jury of seven men and five women, 10 of whom were white and two who were African-American, deliberated for more than 25 hours over five days before acquitting Yanez on all charges. This is Philando Castile’s sister Allysza, speaking just after Friday’s verdict.

Allysza Castile: “And I’m really just so hurt, because y’all took away—he took away something so precious from me. That was my brother, that was my mentor, that was my father figure, that was everything. That man worked hard every single day, every birthday, every Christmas. He was the one that made sure I had gifts. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did. And I will never have faith in this system. I will never have faith in this system.”

Philando Castile’s death was live-streamed on Facebook by his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, in an extraordinary video in which she narrated the aftermath of the shooting while she was still in the car, with Officer Yanez pointing a gun at her and her 4-year-old daughter. On Friday evening, about 2,000 demonstrators gathered outside Minnesota’s state Capitol in St. Paul to demand police accountability. Several protesters blocked a main interstate between St. Paul and Minneapolis, resulting in 18 arrests. Peaceful demonstrations continued throughout the weekend. For more on the killing, we’ll go to the Twin Cities after headlines.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top