Tracy Mumford
Last Friday, a Ramsey County jury found police officer Jeronimo Yanez not guilty in the shooting death of Philando Castile during a traffic stop on July 6, 2016.
The car Castile was driving — a 1997 white Oldsmobile — became a central piece of evidence. It was towed away that night by authorities, processed by lab technicians, photographed for the investigation.
And now that the trial is over, those photographs are public. This week, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released over 80 gigabytes of information: photos, videos, documents, all related to the shooting.
There’s a whole folder devoted to pictures of the car — and not just the blood splatter and the bullet holes through the seatbelt, but the things in the car. The receipts and the loose change and the trash and the spare tire.
These details show Philando Castile as a man, before he became a symbol. A man with a job, and a girlfriend, and a little girl sitting in a pink and black car seat in the back.
The things in his car, when you look through them, are all about another. Another dinner. Another day at work. Another flat tire. Another winter.
They’re remnants of a life, interrupted.
The photographs from the BCA file show all the things that were in that white Oldsmobile, spread out on brown paper:
• Three spare work uniforms for St. Paul Public Schools’ Nutrition Services — one blue, one red and one white
• A jug of laundry detergent, Bahama Breeze scent
• A gallon of bleach
• An ice scraper
• A flyer for Cub Foods: 18 eggs for 99 cents
• A black T-shirt with marijuana leaves formed into a Nike-style swoosh
• A pair of crisp white sneakers, still in the box surrounded by crumpled-up paper
• Two bags of Halls cough drops, cherry and honey-lemon
• An inhaler
• A spare tire
• A jack
• A sauce packet of honey mustard from McDonald’s
• A pair of black work shoes
• An invitation to a preschool graduation on July 8, 2016 — two days after the shooting
• A stack of yellow time cards from St. Paul Public Schools
• A completion certificate for a CPR course with Philando Castile’s name on it
• A Sports Illustrated from 2015 with Minnesota Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns on the cover
• A piece of children’s art — made with crayons and a glue stick
• A tourist guide to South Dakota
• A box of brake pads
• A bottle of water
• A roll of red lens repair tape, for taping over a broken brake light
The rear left brake light on the white Oldsmobile was covered with the same red tape.
• A children’s worksheet: “Write and Find the Number 12”
• A woman’s camouflage vest
• A black bag
• Three packages of Swisher Sweets cigarillos
• A glass Mason jar with a plastic bag of marijuana in it
• A bag of Corn Nuts, Ranch flavor
• Cigarette butts
• Loose change
• Batteries
• A child’s raincoat, blue
There were also four plastic grocery bags in the car, which were sitting at Diamond Reynolds’ feet during the traffic stop. They contained:
• A bag of frozen shrimp
• A pound and a half of chicken breasts
• Two kielbasa links
• A box of Uncle Ben’s Rice
• Grill marinade
• A packet of strawberry Kool-Aid
• Two frozen beef pot pies
• Two frozen chicken dinners
• A can of off-brand SpaghettiOs
• A jar of Lawry’s seasoning
• A box of beef Rice-A-Roni
• Saltine crackers
• Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce
• A family-size bucket of chocolate swirl ice cream
The couple had been shopping just an hour before, and were headed home to make dinner. During the trial, Reynolds said, “I was going to cook him a birthday dinner and we were going to relax at the house.”
• Tic Tacs
• Matches
• A lighter
• A packet of gum
• A phone charger
• An iPhone in a black case
The phone shows up twice in these pictures, first in a photo that was taken of the car before it was towed. In that photo, you can see the phone sitting on the bench between the driver’s and passenger’s seats. It’s likely that it belonged to Philando Castile, since we know Diamond Reynolds took her phone with her when she got out of the car.
The screen of the phone is lit up in the photo, so you can see the time: 11:48 p.m. You can also see the notifications, piling up, from Facebook: You’ve been tagged in a post, you’ve been tagged in a post, you’ve been tagged in a post.
• A spray bottle of fresh car scent
• A pink and black car seat
• A SuperAmerica receipt for gas and an Icee
• A pair of black framed glasses
During Yanez’s interview with investigators, he said Castile had been wearing his glasses, but they “flew off” during the shooting.
• Two bullet casings
• Two bullets
