It was heartbreaking to watch all the way around. I know this isn't a popular perspective but I really felt for the officer after watching it. He was clearly panicked - you could hear it in every word he said/screamed and see it in his body language. And that panic only intensified after the shooting. His training, our culture, and perhaps his temperament failed him in carrying out his duties. Rather than rationally being able to assess a threat he heard the word gun come out of a black man's mouth and went straight into him-or-me mode.
Black men and the people who love them undoubtedly suffer the worst at the hands of our dysfunctional police culture, but I think this video showed that the officers are not the remorseless, trigger happy abusers of authority that they're often portrayed as. Some might be, but others are just guys with a hard job, too little training, and a set of ingrained biases rooted in a culture that presents black men as people to be feared. Castile and his family aren't the only ones who would be better off today if the police received better training; the officer and his family would be as well.
I agree with this. I feel for both the officer & his family & for Castile & his family. However, at the end of the day, the officer is going home to his family while Castile is not.
But, again, that is the goal - that our police officers go home to their families. If I'm the wife of a police officer, even though I hate to admit it, I *want* him to err on the side of protecting himself at all costs... because I want him to come home at the end of his shift. That said, I would also want him to be level-headed & cautious. It's a tough, tough job. And I have a lot of respect & admiration for most of our police officers.
I don't think this particular officer had the right kind of personality to handle the job, regardless of his training.
Regardless of how we want things to be, people come to all these different scenarios w/ their own prejudices & experiences & history coloring their judgments. So I get that, whether we want to admit it or not, assumptions are made, & previous experiences have caused many officers to be very wary & suspicious.
For me, though, in the Castile case, it all comes down to the child in the backseat.
Had the officer pulled over Castile, & the car was filled w/ older teenagers/adults (black or white or a combination), then I could understand some suspicions & even fear that would lead to the officer pulling the trigger.
But there was a CHILD in the backseat.
I think, even in a short-second-span of time, a logical person (who supposedly has had training) could reasonably be able to judge the situation & come to the conclusion that the guy who has said "I've got a concealed weapon" is probably NOT going to shoot me. And, even IF the officer takes a gamble that the guy won't shoot but his gamble turns out wrong, there is a CHILD in the backseat. I'm willing to risk my life for a child. I'm not going to shoot SEVEN rounds into a car w/ a child in the backseat.
Again, we all have certain prejudices & make judgments based on different things, whether we admit it or not.
Yesterday, we were traveling home from Florida, & we stopped at a fast food restaurant somewhere in south Georgia. Judging from the appearances of both the employees & the other customers, we were possibly in a sketchy area, but I don't know. (And, when I say "appearances," I don't mean everyone was black. There was a mix of blacks & whites. And the girl in front of me could have been a double for the "Cash me outside" girl... listening to her talk in her affected "gangster girl" southern accent was hilarious.)
DH was walking our dog, & I went in w/ the kids to order our food to go. I was standing at the counter waiting for our order, when I noticed that the next guy in line was carrying a weapon - not concealed. He had his little boy w/ him who was about 3 or 4. They were both black.
And, even though I was in the presence of a black guy w/ a gun, I was never concerned.
I didn't feel like I needed to be wary or hurry my kids out or keep my eyes on him or anything like that at all... Within a span of nano-seconds, my mind registered the gun while at the same time registering the little boy & came to the conclusion that there was nothing to make me nervous - and I did all this subconsciously w/o even realizing I was doing it, if that makes sense. I had quickly, subconsciously sized up the situation, & nothing made my "alert" meter go off.
And, when he paid for his food, he reached for his wallet which was in his back pocket on the same side of his gun - but I'm only thinking about that now in hindsight. At the time, when he paid for his food, it totally didn't even register w/ me how close his hand was to his gun.
I was never, even initially when I first noticed the gun, worried. My subconscious mind (w/ its admittedly innate prejudices) had sized up the situation, &, due to the little boy (& probably a lack of other factors), had determined everything was okay.
However, had the guy been in a group of 3-5 other guys (black or white) & had they looked... I don't know... thug-ish, the presence of the gun might have made me a little nervous.
And I shared all that because, just like the man yesterday w/ a gun & his little boy didn't concern me, the same could be said w/ Castile & the little girl in his car. The "scene" wasn't "right" for Castile to start shooting.
Castile was alone w/ a woman & a young child in the backseat.
I don't know why Castile didn't put his hands on the steering wheel. Yes, the officer told him to get his license, but the officer also told him not to reach for his gun. If I can't get my license w/o also looking like I'm going for my gun, I think I would have just stopped & waited for further instructions, you know? I don't know why the officer told him to get his driver's license when he knew he also had a gun in the same vicinity as his wallet/driver's license. I think mistakes were made on both parts, but Castile paid for his mistakes w/ his life. I don't think the officer was reasonable or level-headed enough to judge the situation correctly after he heard the word "gun", &, for whatever reason, he lost his ability to think & react sanely once he realized Castile had a gun.
