See https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/07/11/is-philando-castile-the-ultimate-casualty-of-driving-while-black.
See “Minnesota Police Officer’s ‘Bulletproof Warrior’ Training Is Questioned”. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/us/minnesota-police-officers-bulletproof-warrior-training-is-questioned.
I do know personally that expectations of what someone might say can lead to a gross misunderstanding of what a person actually said.
Between my junior and senior years in college, I took a job at Ohio Oil in Findlay, Ohio. My intention was to learn more about computers.
Unfortunately, I had a difficult time finding a room for the whole summer. I stayed in two or three private houses before I found an apartment above the bank that owned the whole building. About a week or so after occupying the apartment the bank asked me if I would swap my apartment for a smaller one occupied by a couple.
I left word at the bank president’s office that I had moved enough for the summer and would stay put until school started.
A day or two later, the bank president knocked on my door. He was somewhat of a curmudgeon and I expected a bit of chewing out. The first words I heard from him were “How’s the bastard doing?” This from a pillar of his church! I said, “Excuse me?” and I heard him say again, “How’s the bastard doing?” I said “Excuse me?" again. This time I clearly heard him say, “How’s the bachelor doing?”
Now we had a friendly discussion about my staying put and he accepted my wish.
How often do people in tense situations completely misunderstand what another person is saying?
I speculate that Philandro Castile simply said in a normal voice, “I have a gun.” He was stating a fact to avoid conflict. Officer Jeronimo Yanez, pumped up from his “Bulletproof Warrior” class, heard, “I HAVE A GUN!”
I do hope many police departments are seriously thinking about paying for their officers’ training at for-profit classes that have no accountability to either the government or the general public.
Every killing diminishes all of us, whether it is terrorists who think a whole class of people should be killed, whether it is a government that drops bombs the kill innocents, whether it is madmen that shoot indiscriminately into crowded venues, or whether it is a hyped-up police officer with an itchy finger..
See also “Quote on violence” http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/07/quote-on-violence.html.
