The officer cleared in the killing of Philando Castile and whose exoneration has led to nightly protests and illegal actions. But the city says his innocence is insufficient impetus to keep his job. Currently they are trying to make the officer leave on his own with a compensation package but should he refuse it, there is little doubt he would be allowed to keep his job. Innocence of the crime is no excuse.
In a statement, issued immediately after Officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted, the city said:
“The City of St. Anthony has concluded that the public will be best served if Officer Yanez is no longer a police officer in our city. The city intends to offer Officer Yanez a voluntary separation agreement to help him transition to another career other than being a St. Anthony officer.”
The City of St. Anthony has offered few other details besides that Officer Yanez will never again be allowed to return to active duty, and that they still needed to negotiate terms with the officer.
After 27 hours of deliberation, on Friday at around 2 PM, a Ramsey county court issued the Philando Castile verdict and found Officer Jeronimo Yanez not guilty of all counts in the shooting of Philando Castile in July 2016.
St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez had stopped Castile’s vehicle on July 6, 2016, because he believed Castile might have been involved in a convenience store robbery a few days earlier. Officer Yanez was one of the police officers who had responded to that robbery. Furher investigation after the stop showed no connection to Castile and the robbery.
Castile’s long previous criminal history does not show a tendency toward violence, although he had been stopped 52 times in the past few years for traffic-related issues.
It was later determined that Castile was high on marijuana at the time of the stop, which impaired his ability to listen to Officer Yanez when he was instructed not to reach for his gun. Officer Yanez shot Castile after he ignored orders and reached towards his gun.
The only damning evidence they has was the testimony of Diamond Reynolds, who proved to be as solid as a handful of sand.
Diamond Reynolds lied after Castile was shot and said that he didn’t have any criminal history. After the shooting Reynolds also lied by claiming that she was Castile’s fiance, when she wasn’t. She claimed that she was held overnight by the police, when she was only interviewed for two hours before an officer bought her groceries and took her home. And Reynolds claimed that police didn’t provide first aid to Castile, when they did.
Diamond Reynolds was later arrested in an unrelated case for being involved in an attack, using a hammer to attack other women.
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