Diamond Reynolds, who captured graphic footage Wednesday of police in Minnesota fatally shooting her boyfriend, Philando Castile, went into detail about the incident and the victim in an emotional Facebook Live video on Thursday.
Reynolds, speaking from St. Paul after being released from jail, said police had taken her phone, and used a friend’s Facebook account to post the video.
In between sobs, she told the crowds gathered around her how the tragedy had unfolded.
“A police officer stopped us for a busted tail light that was not busted,” she said. “As he was reaching for his license [in his back pocket], he told the officer he was licensed to carry.”
Then, she recalled, the police took four of five shots “for no reason.”
“He was crying, they took my phone and threw it,” she added. “They had machine guns pointed at my back.”
Officers also gave her incorrect information about where Castile was receiving care, she said. They told her he was at Regions Hospital, but she learned when she arrived there that he was actually at Hennepin County Medical Center.
“I never got to see him,” she said. “I never got to say my last words to that man.”
Reynolds and her daughter spent the night in jail, she said.
“They didn’t feed us, they didn’t give us water, they took everything from me,” she said. “They put me in a room and separated me from my child. They treated me like a prisoner.”
Castile, Reynolds added, was a decent and loving man without any criminal record or gang affiliation. She said he had worked hard to support her and her child.
“Nothing within his body said, ‘Kill me, I want to be dead,’” Reynolds said. “They took a part of my heart, they took a part of my soul.”
“They did this to my daughter, they did this to me and I want justice,” she said. “It’s not fair, it could have been any of us.”
Correction: A previous version of this article stated the name of the first hospital Reynolds visited as Regent's Hospital. It has since been changed to Regions Hospital.
