Police
Philando Castile & girlfriend were reportedly pulled over for having a “wide nose” (audio dispatch)
Philando Castile was pulled over because he had a wide nose, audio dispatch says.
New audio dispatch that was released reveals why St. Anthony police pulled over Philando Castile and his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds.
Why were Philando Castile and his girlfriend pulled over?
The couple was reportedly pulled ober because they had a “wide nose” that matched the description of a robbery suspect.
Yes, you read that correctly. The police officer reportedly was able to point out Castile’s and Reynold’s “wide nose” in a moving vehicle.
Audio
Kare11TV has been able to get access to the audio. You can listen to the audio below or here on the news outlet . KARE cautions that the TV station has not been able to verify the dispatch audio with the St. Anthony Village Police Department.
The audio starts with a voice, purported to be the officer, saying:
“I’m going to stop a car. I’m going to check IDs. I have reason to pull it over.”
“The two occupants just look like people that were involved in a robbery,” the officer adds.
“The driver looks more like one of our suspects, just ‘cause of the wide set nose,” the officer continues.
Family thoughts on the audio
Clarence Castile, Castile’s uncle, told KARE 11 the audio shows the stop was “racial profiling.” He told the TV station: “I just thought it was kind of insane to pull somebody over saying they matched a robbery suspect by having flared nostrils. It is kind of hard to see flared nostrils from a car.”
Philando Castile and his girlfriend
Castile’s girlfriend said they were stopped for a broken taillight, and said the taillight wasn’t really broken. After Castile was shot by the police, Reynolds began live streaming the aftermath of the event.
Millions of people watched the video in horror as they saw Philando Castile bleeding in the passenger seat while the St. Anthony police officer has his gun drawn on him. Castile would die a short time later.
The police held Reynolds and her daughter, who was in the back seat while everything happened, for hours before releasing them. Reynolds told KARE 11 she and Castile did not match the description of the robbery suspects in the audio.
Officer who shot Castile
An attorney for the officer, Jeronimo Yanez, tells KARE 11 that Yanez, who is Latino, was reacting to the gun Castile had, not his race. Thomas Kelly, a Minneapolis attorney, told the TV station the officer was reacting to “the presence of that gun and the display of that gun” when he shot Philando Castile.
Philando Castile was a beloved cafeteria worker with only minor traffic violations. Many are calling those tickets a case of racial profiling as he has been stopped nearly 52 times by police before he was killed.