In police dispatch audio released to the public this week, it is revealed that Philado Castile was the victim of racial profiling in the police shooting which led to his death.
Castile was driving in Minnesota with his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter when police pulled the vehicle, supposedly for a busted tail light. Castile informed the officer that he was carrying a weapon and had a permit to do so, but moments later as he reached for his wallet to show I.D. and registration, the officer opened fire.
In the dispatch audio, the officer claims that he is pulling the vehicle over because he claims the two fit the description of suspects in a recent robbery, based on the shape of Castile’s nose alone.
“I’m gonna stop a car. I’m gonna check IDs. I have reason to pull it over.”
“The two occupants just look like people that were involved in a robbery. The driver looks more like one of our suspects, just ’cause of the wide set nose.”
Less than two minutes after the officer made this comment, Castile was dead.
It turns out that this wasn’t the first time that Castile had been pulled over for being black and had been issued dozens of minor citations over the decades he had been driving in nearby counties.
Castile had no criminal record and was a lawful, upstanding citizen, but because he was black and had a gun, he had to die.
Listen.
Here’s a portion of the #PhilandoCastile dispatch call released by #KARE11 pic.twitter.com/4J5TzVcLUk
— BallerAlert (@balleralert) July 10, 2016
