FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn.—A suburban police officer who killed a black motorist likely wouldn’t have fired if the driver had been white, Minnesota’s governor declared, jumping into a suddenly reignited national debate over how law enforcement treats people of color.
Philando Castile’s girlfriend streamed the gruesome aftermath of his shooting in a St. Paul suburb this week live on Facebook. The school cafeteria supervisor had been shot “for no apparent reason” while reaching for his wallet after telling the officer he had a gun and a permit to carry it, she says in the video.
“Would this have happened if those passengers would have been white? I don’t think it would have,” Gov. Mark Dayton said to a crowd that gathered outside his residence all day and night Thursday.
Hours after Dayton’s remarks, gunmen shot and killed five police officers and wounded six more amid protests in Dallas over Castile’s killing and a second fatal police shooting of a black man.
Alton Sterling, 37, was killed Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after he scuffled with two white police officers outside a convenience store. Portions of that shooting were also caught on video.
