Commentary: Philando Castile One Year Later

The acquittal of Officer Jeronimo Yanez in the killing of Philando Castile is the latest case in which police have invoked “fear for their life” to justify the use of deadly force. But the totality of each police encounter should be considered — including conflicting orders that can escalate to deadly misunderstandings.

When a law enforcement officer tells you to stop, you stop. And if one tells you to “Get out of the car!” while another says “roll down your window” — well, which do you listen to?

I first heard that true-life dilemma from a young Hispanic businessman in California 25 years ago. It was in the wake of the LA riots, following the not-guilty verdict of the police officers who beat motorist Rodney King.

I filed those thoughts away until Officer Jeronimo Yanez was found not guilty of manslaughter for killing Philando Castile. Yanez too issued contradictory orders, asking Castile to produce his license while saying “Don’t reach for it!” meaning his gun.

Yanez’s defense suggested he too was confused. When Castile reached for his license in his pocket, Yanez fired off seven shots, professing fear for his life.

That defense has been invoked successfully in at least a half-dozen high-profile cases. Don’t expect it to change unless the laws do. The burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt, and none of us can decisively say if anyone feels fear or not.

I took a police training once that reinforced that point, with scenarios demanding a quick decision of shoot or don’t shoot. But it offered little advice for handling the totality of the encounters, and the one-way video screen wasn’t equipped for my attempts to talk down a suspect. When I settled for tasing him, that failed too, and the imaginary perp smashed my head in with a baseball bat. A sergeant yelled at me for failing to shoot him.

Police are well-trained on the use of force. But I don’t know that the same attention is given to defusing encounters in the first place. Or in advising how to give instructions that aren’t contradictory.

Thousands of officers get it right every day, in uneventful traffic stops we never hear about. But if it’s “Get out of the car”… and “roll down your window”… The confusion could result in another tragedy.