Philando Castile's girlfriend: 'He never did anything to hurt anyone'
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - A graphic live Facebook video by Philando Castile's girlfriend, Diamond "Lavish" Reynolds, captured the aftermath of Wednesday's deadly traffic stop shooting in Falcon Heights, Minn.
MORE DETAILS: Facebook video shows aftermath of police shooting in Falcon Heights, Minnesota
Reynolds spoke to the media about 12 hours later, saying her deceased boyfriend "was never a bad man" and he "never did anything to hurt anyone." Below are direct quotes from Reynolds.
'He was loving'
"He was never a bad man. He never did anything to hurt anyone. He was the quietest, most laid back person you'll ever meet. He was loving. So even for the police to take him away, nothing from his body language said intimidation. Nothing within his body said 'shoot me.' Nothing within his body language said 'kill me I want to be dead.' He didn't do nothing but what the police officer asked of us - which was to put your hands in the air and get your license and registrations."
"He was a good man, a 35-year-old man who worked for St. Paul Public Schools, never been finger printed, never been handcuffed. He has been taken away from his community. This is detrimental to everyone that's here today. Not only me and my daughter but everybody in the world. I just ask that everyone continues to pray. I ask that we all get justice. Anybody who has ever lost a loved one or someone close and dear to them, I feel for you guys. And I'm praying for each and every face I see out here tonight because no one deserves this. I have not been able to sleep, I have not been able to eat, I have not been able to work, I have not been able to do anything besides hold my daughter and tell her how much of a super shero she is. Because she is an angel. She knew that he was gone before I knew."
Pulled over for headlight 'that wasn't broken'
"We were coming from the grocery store from putting food in my house for myself and my daughter. We had all been at work all day. He had just left from the shop from getting his hair done for his birthday. We had left from dropping my sister off who lives by the state fair grounds. And as we were dropping her off from getting groceries for her, the officer pulls us over to talk about a broken headlight that was not broken."
'Nobody checked his pulse'
"He [the police officer] didn't give us the opportunity before he let off rounds. He asked us for license and registrations. As he was reaching for his license and registrations he told him he had a bare arm and he began to shoot. He killed him for no reason."
"They left him sitting in the car after they shot him. Nobody checked his pulse, nothing. The police officer that was on my side walked away to call for back up and the police officer that shot him was still standing there with his gun still drawn after he was shot."
Why she put live video on Facebook
"Because I wanted everyone in the world to know no matter how much the police tamper with evidence, how much they stick together, no matter how they manipulate our minds to believe what they want, I wanted to put it on Facebook and go viral for the people could see. I wanted the people to determine who was right and who was wrong. I want the people to be the testimonies here. All of us saw with our eyes - the only thing you guys didn't see was when he got shot. And if I would've moved while that gun was out, he would have shot me too."
"I allowed that facebook video to go live 10 minutes before my phone died cause I wanted the world to see what the police do and how they roll. It's not right. It's not acceptable. I didn't do it for pity; I didn't do it for fame. I did it so that the world knows that these police are not here to protect and serve us. They are here to assassinate us. They are here to kill us because we are black. We don't support each other enough so they feel like they can take us off the map and it's not okay."
4-year-old daughter reacts
"She said 'Mom, the police are bad guys.' They killed him and he's never coming back. The fact that my 4-year-old had to tell me that he was gone, as I'm telling her never speak negatively, we only speak positive things. She knew that he was gone and never coming back."
Authorities sent her to wrong hospital
"They didn't let me know he was dead until 3 o'clock this morning. I didn't arrive home until about 5 this morning. I asked the BCA more than one time, 'Is he dead?' And all they could tell me was at this point they didn't know. But they knew he was dead when they took him from the scene… they told me he was at Region's Hospital. When I got to Region's Hospital, he was not there. He was at HCMC. They sent me in the whole wrong direction so I never got to see him before they did whatever they did. I never got to say my last words to that man because they told me he was at a location that he was not at. Why did they do that? Who knows. Who knows what tracks they're trying to cover and why the police department is trying to cover but it's not acceptable. It is not okay, and it will not be tolerated. He could've lived."
Wants funeral funded
"They need to start funding these funerals for the people that are taken off this earth for no apparent reason. If we can come together to build a stadium, we can come together to make a wonderful funeral so that we can embrace this beautiful life that is no longer with us anymore."
Police not giving her information
Reynolds said she tried to get the officer's information following the shooting and they wouldn't give her anything. "They said when the investigation was finished or started that they'd let me know what was going on. All they gave me was a business card."