Diamond Reynolds and daughter's anguish caught on squad cam after Castile shooting
In-squad video released by Minnesota authorities shows Diamond Reynolds handcuffed and distraught after witnessing Philando Castile shot by police. Her 4-year-old daughter urged her to stay calm to avoid being shot herself.
'God please get us out of this city': the squad car footage after Philando Castile was shot
Newly released in-squad camera footage shows Diamond Reynolds sitting handcuffed in the back of a police car, unable to hold her 4-year-old daughter, in the minutes after St. Anthony officer Jeronimo Yanez shot her boyfriend Philando Castile five times during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.
MPR News reports that the footage was included in the full case file released by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, four days after a Ramsey County jury acquitted Yanez of second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm.
"We're not hurt, but mentally I'm scarred forever," Reynolds tells an officer who asks whether she was injured. She requests that her handcuffs be removed so she can hold her daughter. The officer responds that his supervisor will be with her shortly.
Reynolds cycles rapidly between calm and distress throughout the recording. She cries, shouts, tells officers she feels like a prisoner, and at one point says she is about to vomit. Each time her emotion escalates, her daughter reacts.
"Mom please stop cussing and swearing because I don't want you to get shooted," the girl says.
Reynolds replies: "OK, give me a kiss."
"I can keep you safe," the child tells her.
The girl repeatedly urges her mother not to attempt to remove the handcuffs, fearing she will be shot. "I'm too scared," she says. "I don't want it to be like this anymore."
Reynolds tells her daughter: "Tell that to the police, OK? When they come, tell them you wish that they didn't have to kill people."
The child then prays aloud: "God please get us out of this city."
"Just keep praying, OK baby," Reynolds answers.
An officer eventually removes the handcuffs. The girl climbs into Reynolds' arms and the two pray together for Castile. Reynolds asks to visit Castile at the hospital; officers deny the request, telling her she cannot speak with anyone else until she has given investigators a formal statement.
The in-squad video was not shown to the jury during Yanez's trial. MPR News stated it has chosen not to publish the footage, citing its sensitive nature and the young child's direct involvement.
The wider case file released alongside the video contains both evidence presented at trial and additional material that was not introduced in court proceedings.
Reynolds and her daughter had been in the car with Castile when Yanez opened fire during the traffic stop. Reynolds subsequently broadcast the immediate aftermath live on Facebook, footage that drew widespread national attention to the shooting.
Source: The Sun