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Philando Castile: The Man, The Legacy, The Injustice · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

• 0:32
  Speaker 1: On July sixth, twenty sixteen, something tragic and incredibly heartbreaking
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: happened in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. News of this terrible ordeal traveled
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: like wildfire and eventually brought the whole state. Some would
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: even argue the whole country to its knees. It all
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: starts with Filando Castile. Filando was thirty two years old
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: at the time of this case, originally from Saint Louis, Missouri,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: and had since moved to Robinsdale, where he worked for
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the Saint Paul Public School District. Falando was in nutrition services,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: meaning that he would help monitor and adapt school meals
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and prep to tailor to children's needs. But that wasn't
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: all he did. Falando was known to quietly pay for
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: students meals at school, doing his best to make sure
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: that no child went home hungry at the end of
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the day. And on the evening of July sixth, twenty sixteen,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: he was on his way back from an activity that
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: was very in tune with his daily profession. Earlier, he'd
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: got his haircut, had dinner with his sister, and then
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: he picked up his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, to go to
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: do some grocery shopping together with them that evening. In
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the back seat of the car was Diamond's four year
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: old daughter. As the evening drew on, Falando caught sight
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of blue lights in his rear view mirror. He pulled
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: over to the side of the streets and waited as
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: two officers approached the car from behind. On the one side,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: moving towards Diamond was Joseph Causer. On the other, making
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: his way to Filando, was Geronimo Jenez. The two officers
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: had been friends for a long time and had even
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: graduated from the police Academy at Minnesota State University together.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: They now worked the same beat and were unofficially considered
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: to be each other's partners. Around nine o'clock that evening,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: another police officer radioed in that he was planning on
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: pulling over Filando's car because Falando looked like a suspect
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and a robbery that had occurred in the area a
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: few days before. After radioing back and forth, it was
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: decided that Geronimo and Joseph would be the ones to
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: conduct the traffic stop. Police officers in Saint Paul did
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: not wear body cams at the time that Falando was
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: pulling his car over to the side of the road,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: But what happened next was captured forever in the dash
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: camp of the police cruiser. It would be a forty
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: second encounter that would forever shape and change so many lives.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Geronimo stood talking with Filando through the driver's side window
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and asked for his license and registration. After taking a
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: quick passing glance at Filando's license, Geronimo then slipped it
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: into the front pocket of his shirt and went on
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: to talk to Filando further. It was then, calmly and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: respectfully that Fialando said, quote, Sir, I have to tell
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: you that I do have a firearm on me. Falando
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: was licensed to carry and own a firearm, and now
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: with two police officers staring into his car with his
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: girlfriend and a four year old child in there with him,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Falando thought it best to inform them that he had
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: a weapon before there was a misunderstanding. But before Filando
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: could even finish his sentence, Geronimo interrupted him. Okay, he
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: is recorded as saying, just like the dashcam footage shows
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: him reach a hand for the holster of his own gun, Okay,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: don't reach for it, then, don't pull it out In
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: mere seconds, Geronimo's composure began quickly changing. I'm not pulling
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: it out, Falando responds, and within seconds his statement is
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: confirmed by Diamond, who can be heard as saying that
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Falando wasn't reaching for his weapon. Geronimo repeated, raising his voice,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: don't pull it out, as he quickly pulled out his
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: own gun with his right hand and reached inside the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: driver's window with his left hand. Diamond screamed no. Geronimo
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: removed his left arm from the car and rapidly fired
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: seven shots in the direction of Falando. Diamond yelled, you
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: just killed my boyfriend. The scene quickly devolved into absolute chaos.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: In between the shots and in the following empty silence,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Diamond began to scream, yelling at Geronimo that he had
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: just killed Falando. Falando can also be heard speaking his
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: voice lays with the pained moan, I wasn't reaching for it.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Reason to Georgia, your break light here out, so you
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: don't have one activator active break light, and that's gonna
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: be your pasture sign on your third break light which
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: is up here on top, and on this one back
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: here it's gonna be out. You have your life sense shirts,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: I have firearms, don't reach for them, don't pull it out,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: don't pull it up.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: Don't go who.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: My God.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Got right? Get the baby? Shot fire and carrying, trunning
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: it up, and.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: That Geronimo had fired seven shots at Falando at point
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: blank range. Five of those shots hit him, two of
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: which pierced his heart. Most likely In a panic and
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: for fear of her own daughter's life, Diamond picked up
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: her phone and began live streaming the events unfolding around her.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: She captured Fialando slumped over and moaning in the seat
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: beside her. In the recording, Geronimo can be heard shouting
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: and swearing as Diamond says, you shot four bullets into him, sir,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: he was just getting his license in registration. Then overlapping
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: each other, Geronimo can be heard shouting, I told him
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: not to reach for it. I told him to get
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: his hand open. At the same time Diamond pleads, please
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: don't tell me he's dead. Still recording, Diamond is then
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: ordered out of the vehicle, where she's forced to the
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: ground and handcuffed. She looses her phone in the scuffle
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and continues to film from the ground, but no longer
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: shows us exactly who is speaking, but dash cams and
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: cameras inside the police cruiser then captured the heartbreaking and
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: chilling voice of a child. Diamond's four year old daughter,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: who'd been removed from Filando's vehicle and placed inside the cruiser,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: begs her mother to stay quiet. Mom, please stop cussing
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and screaming, because I don't want you to get shooted.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Diamond claimed that in the hours following the shooting, she
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: was treated like a criminal. Still handcuffed, Diamond was escorted
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: back to the police station, where she was questioned throughout
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: the night. She wasn't released until five o'clock the next morning.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: She also claimed that in the immediate aftermath of the shooting,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: none of the officers at the scene or the ones
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: who flocked thereafter checked to see if Filando was still
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: alive because he was. After five direct hits, two of
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: which had pierced his heart, Falando was still in the car,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: clinging to life. It was only when first responders arrived
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: at the scene that anyone realized that he was still
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: alive and breathing. He was rushed to the hospital, but
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: by then, unfortunately it was too late. He died about
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: twenty minutes later. In less than twenty four hours, his
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: story would spread across the country and ignite a feeling
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: of anger and betrayal that would not easily be put out.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: In half a day, Diamond's recording would get two point
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: five million views, and protesters began to gather at the
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: scene of the shooting. Days the people of Saint Paul
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: stood together in peaceful protests and vigils, but by July ninth,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: their anger had bubbled over into sour fury. Things turned violent.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Twenty one officers were injured as protesters through rocks, bottles,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: and maltov cocktails. Law enforcement responded with pepper spray, tear gas,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: and over one hundred two arrests. Highways and entire city
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: blocks came to a standstill, But what the people really
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: wanted was justice. Geronimo Yanez told his version of the events,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: trying his very best to clear his name and his image.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: He claimed that he had been in fear for his
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: own life. His justification for being so was that Falando
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: had been abusing Diamond's four year old daughter. I thought
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I was going to die. Transcripts from his interview with
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension read, and I thought of
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: his If he has the the guts and the audacity
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: to smoke marijuana in front of the five year old
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: girl and risk her life by giving her second hand smoke,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: than what care does he give about me. Geronimo and
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: his lawyers tried to flip the scripts and blamed everything
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: on Fialando. The abuse was second hand smoke, but an
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: investigation into the incident brought second degree manslaughter charges against Geronimo.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: After five days in court, he was acquitted of all charges.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: He was, however, immediately fired from the police department, but
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: only after he received almost forty nine thousand dollars in
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: a severance agreement. The entire debacle had been one more
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: slap in the face for Filando's family and for Diamond.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Determined to see some sort of justice done, they filed
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: wrongful death lawsuits against the city and won about three
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: point eight million dollars. This was little compensation for the
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: damage done to all of them that day, especially for
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: those that had been in the car in witness the
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: shooting first hand. But from it has spouted some good
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: that perhaps captures the true essence of Filando Castile. The
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: school he'd once worked at set up the Filando Castile
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Memorial Scholarship in his honor, but that was only the beginning.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: After that came the Filando Castile Relief Foundation, a charity
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that tries to address gun violence, but also pays off
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: students lunch debts, just like Filando had been doing himself
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: in secret. Part of their funding comes directly from the
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Castile family themselves and will continue to do so in
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the future. That is ten Minute Murder for today, brief
• 11:57
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