Black Lives Still Matter

On Tuesday Alton Sterling was murdered in Baton Rouge by police, yesterday Philando Castile was killed in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.  

A 32-year-old man has died after an officer-involved shooting Wednesday night in Falcon Heights.

Philando Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, says he died at Hennepin County Medical Center after 11 p.m.

St. Anthony Police said in a press release that officers pulled over a vehicle at Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street at about 9 p.m. They said “shots were fire” during the traffic stop, and a handgun was recovered at the scene. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating.

Castile’s family says his girlfriend, Lavisha Reynolds, and her 4-year-old daughter, Diamond, were in the car at the time. Reynolds was taken into custody Wednesday night.

They pulled him over for a busted tail light with a woman and a 4-year-old in the car. Castille informed the officer that he had a legal handgun in the glove compartment, and that he was reaching for his wallet in his back pocket.

And then the officer shot him 4 times.  Lavisha Reynolds recorded the stop and the aftermath on her phone.

Reynolds, who was in the front passenger seat, says in the video that they were pulled over for a broken tail light. She says police asked Castile, who was driving, for his license and registration.

She says as Castile was reaching for his wallet, he informed officers that he had a firearm in his possession, and a conceal-and-carry permit.

Reynolds says in the video that an officer then shot her boyfriend four times.

The officer in the video at one point screams, “I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand out …”

Reynolds tells the officer, “You told him to get his I.D., sir, his driver’s license.”

She pans the cellphone camera over Castile, who is covered in blood.

“Oh my God, please don’t tell me he’s dead. Please don’t tell me my boyfriend just went like that,” Reynolds said.

The officer, whose gun is drawn the entire time, tells Reynolds to, “Keep your hands where they are.”

“Yes I will, sir, I’ll keep my hands where they are,” she said.

In the video you can see Castille writhing in pain in the driver's seat, his final moments passing. Reynolds is very, very calm considering the officer just blasted the person next to her, because she knows that if she gets hysterical here, she will be murdered too.

The cop is screaming and cursing because he knows he screwed up big time, and he's been caught.  In no way was this justified.

And so another black man died to a cop in America last night.

Black lives do matter.