'Unjust practices': US prosecutor takes stand against minor police traffic stops
A Minnesota prosecutor who filed manslaughter charges against a police officer who shot and killed the black motorist Philando Castile in a 2016 stop for a broken tail light says he will no longer pursue cases involving minor traffic infractions.
The aim, according to the Ramsey county attorney John Choi, is to reduce the number of unnecessary encounters between police and people of color that can, as in Castiles confrontation with officer Jeronimo Yanez, turn fatal.
Im not going to do this any more. I am not going to perpetuate these unjust practices that disproportionately impact my community, Choi said in an interview with the Daily Beast.
Yanez, who is Hispanic, shot Castile, 32, seven times on 6 July 2016, after pulling him over for the broken light. Castiles partner Diamond Reynolds, who livestreamed the aftermath of the incident, said the officer opened fire immediately after warning her boyfriend not to reach for a licensed gun he said he owned.
In June 2017, a jury acquitted Yanez of manslaughter and other charges, sparking days of protests in Minneapolis and elsewhere. The same month, Castiles mother Valerie reached a $3m settlement with the city of St Anthony and its police department.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/09/minnesota-prosecutor-philando-castile-cases-minor-traffic-violations