Thousands Protest In St. Paul After Cop Who Killed Philando Castile Is Acquitted

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jun 17, 2017 2:20PM

More than 2,000 people took to the streets on Friday night in St. Paul, MN to protest the acquittal of police officer Jeronimo Yanez, who shot and killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop last July.

Hundreds of demonstrators had gathered together by around 7:15 p.m. at the state Capitol, just hours after the jury—which deliberated for more than 24 hours total—found Yanez not guilty of manslaughter and other charges. Demonstrators later in the night marched onto Interstate 94, shutting down traffic in protest.

A diverse crowd, including many people with children, rallied at the Capitol, according to the AP. Signs reading "Unite for Philando" and "Justice Not Served for Philando" could be seen; chants of "No justice, no peace, prosecute the police" were heard during the largely peaceful protest.

"This verdict shows how the system is rigged against justice for victims of police terror," organizers wrote on Facebook. Like many who expressed alarm at the verdict, they were critical of the makeup of the jury: eight men (one black) and four women (also one black).

As crowds swelled into the thousands, protesters began marching through the streets, toward St. Paul Cathedral. The Twin Cities NBC affiliate KARE 11 and CBS affiliate WCCO captured arial footage of the march.

By around 10:30 p.m., a large crowd of protesters broke off from the march and took to Interstate 94, blocking traffic on a downtown stretch for more than an hour. CNN reports that 18 demonstrators were arrested following the I-94 takeover after a line of riot-geared police eventually met protesters and the crowd was told to leave. Crowds marched on I-94 in 2016 also, in the aftermath of Castile's killing.

Yanez, 29, on Friday was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of intentional discharge of a dangerous weapon. Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, streamed the immediate aftermath of the shooting on Facebook. Reynolds said Castile told Yanz he had a permit to carry a handgun and was reaching for ID when he was shot. Reynolds' four-year-old daughter was in the backseat when it happened. Large-scale protests in Minnesota and beyond followed in 2016.

"I am so disappointed in the state of Minnesota," Philando Castile's mother, Valerie Castile, told reporters on Friday after the verdict was announced, the Star-Tribune reports. "My son loved Minnesota. He had one tattoo on his body and it was of the Twin Cities. My son loved this city, and the city killed my son and the murderer gets away."

Yanez was fired from the police force following the verdict on Friday.