We feel the need to inform the public as to why the shooting of Philando Castile by the St. Anthony, MN police department hasn’t shown up on the Police Brutality List (PBL) website as of yet.
The shooting of Philando Castile reverberated around the country, due in large part to the live stream video of the aftermath of the shooting of Philando that his reported girlfriend posted to facebook.
A few items about the video need to be kept in context. What we see in the various video clips of the shooting are disturbing to say the least. But what we have seen thus far, along with other information we have so far, is not enough to vilify or condemn the officer involved in the shooting. Here’s why:
What we see in the video is purely aftermath. While the officer’s actions are somewhat evident by the fact that Philando is dying in the driver’s seat, we don’t see any of the officer’s actions, or what prompted those actions. PBL hates to utter the words, “We don’t know what happened prior to the video.” because those are the same words uttered by so many police cheifs and departmental spokespersons around the country…to the point that we often recommend these statements be disregarded due to their overuse and often irrelevant connotation. These statements are often uttered by the rogue departments when the offending officer’s actions are a clearly caught on video and when the minutes before the video of the brutality are completely irrelevant. (As is the case of the St. Paul police chief saying “we don’t know what happen prior to the video” in the case of Eric Hightower being kicked in the head by the offending officer. In this case it doesn’t matter at all…it’s just a statement used to fool the public to think that maybe the police are right in their actions.)
In the current case we don’t see any of the police actions of the shooting. His girlfriend states what happened, but even from her version of events we can’t say the officer is entirely wrong.
The book Law and Disorder clearly explains how, if you are a licensed concealed carry holder, to survive your encounters with the police. Philando Castile would be alive today if he would have read the book. The way Philando’s girlfriend describes the event is that he told the officer he had a gun and was licensed to carry. It sounds as if he mentioned this as he was reaching for his wallet. We here the officer state, after the shooting, that he told him not to reach for the wallet. Our recommendation is that you always follow the officer’s instructions even if you are legally correct in not doing so. It is better to be demeaned, verbally abused, ridiculed, or discriminated against than to be dead. If you have the legal right to do something that the officer says you don’t, you should suspend your assertion until you are in a safe place, away from the officer’s loaded firearm. A good place to start is by sharing our blogs and website so that everyone in the country knows your story.
We will keep our eyes and ears open for new information and we will be sure to give you more information if we find that the officer involved in the shooting of Philando Castile should be held accountable for his actions.
Until then, good luck and stay safe!