Philando Castile's girlfriend testifies: I streamed shooting for fear I would die

Associated Press
Tuesday 6 June 2017 20.02 BST

The girlfriend of a black motorist shot to death by a police officer during a traffic stop in Minnesota has said she began streaming the event on Facebook because she feared for her own life.

Diamond Reynolds cried as squad car video, her Facebook video and still images of her boyfriend, Philando Castile, were shown in court. Her voice broke as she identified Officer Jeronimo Yanez and explained her snap decision to record the encounter moments after Yanez fired into the car.

“Because I know that the people are not protected against the police,” Reynolds said. “I wanted to make sure if I died in front of my daughter that people would know the truth.”

Yanez, 29, who is Latino, is charged with manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm for endangering Reynolds and her four-year-old daughter, who was in the back seat. Castile had informed Yanez that he was carrying a gun, and Yanez’s attorneys have argued he was reacting to the presence of the gun.

Defense attorneys also have argued that Castile was stoned during the stop and it affected his actions, and plan to introduce evidence he had THC – the high-producing component of marijuana – in his system the day of his death.

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