The distraught woman who live-streamed her boyfriend dying after he was shot five times by a cop in Minnesota has launched an extraordinary ...
The distraught woman who live-streamed her boyfriend dying after he was shot five times by a cop in Minnesota has launched an extraordinary attack on the police for 'killing him in front of my daughter'nDiamond Reynolds, who was handcuffed after a cop in Falcon Heights, Saint Paul, shot Philando Castile, 32, five times, sobbed as she said her four-year-old daughter will 'forever be scarred' by the incident.nFootage recorded by Reynolds in the aftermath of the shooting was live-streamed on Facebook, prompting widespread outrage and protests in Saint Paul. nThe second such controversial police shooting of a black man in the past 24 hours has resulted in Minnesota's governor asking for a federal investigation to be launched.nHours after she was released from jail, she launched into a 20-minute speech calling on the community to come together as she was flanked by a crowd of supporters brandishing Black Lives Matter placards. She insisted that police had stopped them for a busted tail light, which she claims wasn't even busted, and that Castile told the officer he had a firearm on him and a license, before the cop begin shooting 'for no reason'.nShe told the growing crowd that her boyfriend 'didn't have any last words. His eyes rolled in the back of his head.'n'The police did this to us. The police killed him in front of my daughter. The police did this to me. They took an innocent man away from us.'nDemanding justice and peace, she said: 'These police should not be able to bear arms on innocent people in front of kids. My daughter will be forever scarred by what the police of Falcon Heights did to us. 'For no apparent reason they asked him for identification. And before they gave him a chance to get it, they beared arms on him.' nReynolds said that police treated her 'like a prisoner', detaining her after the 9pm shooting and keeping her in custody until 5am, separating her from her young daughter, and denying her food and water. nShe says that police didn't inform her that he was dead until 3am, even though they knew he was dead when they took him from the scene.n'They put me in a room and separated me from my child. They treated me like a prisoner. They treated me like I did this to me. And I didn't. They did this to us. They took a black man away. He worked for St Paul public schools, he never had a criminal record. he never did anything, no gang affiliated, nothing, he was a hard working man, his birthday was in nine days. They took him nine days before his 35th birthday. It's not fair and it's not right.'nShe claimed the police would tamper with evidence after taking her off the scene, making sure she was not able to speak to anybody until she was dropped off at her doorstep at 5am.nWhen they let her go, they kept her phone and car for evidence.nAsked how she had the wherewithal to put the video on Facebook, she said: 'I wanted everyone in the world to know that no matter how much police tamper with evidence, how much they stick together, no matter how much they manipulate our minds to believe what they want to put it on Facebook and go viral so that the people could see. I wanted the people to determine who was right and who was wrong.'nShe paid tribute to her daughter, calling her 'my lifeline'.n'My daughter told me to stay strong and that's what I had to do. My daughter told me don't cry and that's what I had to do... my daughter prayed for me.' nShe said she wanted the world to see that the police 'are not there to protect and serve us, they are there to assassinate us.' nThe incident is being investigated by Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, although Mark Dayton, the Governor of Minnesota, has asked for the US Just Department to open a federal investigation. 'My deepest condolences go out to the family and friends,' said Mr Dayton, who was evacuated from his residence last night as protesters descended on it demanding justice. 'This kind of behavior is unacceptable. It is not the norm in Minnesota. I promise... to see that this matter is brought to justice and all avenues are pursued and do a complete investigation. Justice will be served in Minnesota.'nSen Al Franken, echoing calls for a federal investigation, added that he was 'horrified and heartbroken'.nThe shooting in Saint Paul is the second controversial police shooting of a black man to emerge in 24 hours.nIn the original video, Reynolds tells viewers that she and Castile were pulled over for a busted tail light by a 'Chinese police officer'.nShe claims the cop, from the St. Anthony Police Department in Falcon Heights, asked Castile, a cafeteria supervisor at a Montessori school in St Paul, to show his license, but then shot him four times while he reached for it. nAs she talks, she moves the camera across to show Castile, bloody and losing consciousness, and the cop - still pointing his gun, as her young daughter sits in the back seat. Less
