Police officers are trained to make split second informed decisions, often times officers decisions are called into question. One case that caught a lot of attention was the Philando Castile shooting on July 6th, 2016. Mr. Castile, an African-American male, was pulled over by Office Jeronmio Yanez due to the fact that he fit a description of a having a “wide nose”, according to CNN, that was similar to a robbery suspect. Once Mr. Castile was pulled over it was revealed through Ms. Reynolds, Mr. Castile’s girlfriend, Facebook live video, that he possessed a gun in the car which he was licensed to carry. Mr. Castile, after disclosing this information, was shown reaching for his pocket and seconds later was shot seven times. As Mr. Castile was …show more content…
Throughout the novel a young girl Starr was being given a ride home by her friend Khalil. During this drive, Khalil was pulled over by officer Cruise for a broken taillight. During this encounter, Khalil exercises his rights by asking why he got pulled over. Refusing to give an answer and getting frustrated at Khalil’s questions, the officer aggressively pulls Khalil out of the car and begins to search him. After finding nothing upon the initial search the officer then searches him twice more and leaves Khalil to file a report in his patrol car. During this time Khalil runs over to Starr to see if she is ok, upon his movement the officer fires three shots that kill Khalil and held Starr at gun point. The officer believed Khalil was reaching for a weapon, despite never having seen a weapon in the car. The court system acquitted Officer Cruise on charges of second degree manslaughter. After the court’s ruling the town erupted in riots people stood “on a police car in the middle of the street, chanting, “Justice for Khalil!”(387) as “People hurl rocks and glass bottles at the cops” (390). Starr soon joined these protest believing that the public needed to see the injustice of both the shooting and the court system for she “did everything right, and it didn’t make a fucking difference”