Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, is set to receive a $3 million settlement from the tiny Minnesota suburb of St. Anthony. This payment comes before the wrongful death lawsuit for the freshly acquitted St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez killing Philando during a traffic stop last year. Yanez shot Philando at point blank range while his girlfriend tried to explain to the cop that there was a licensed firearm in the vehicle.
According to Think Progress:
While comparable in size to other police killings settlements, the deal announced Monday is enormous in the context of the tiny suburb’s fiscal reality. The 9,000-person municipality has a total annual budget of around $7 million, half of which goes to the standalone St. Anthony Police Department. The settlement, which would nearly bankrupt the city if paid directly from general revenues, will be paid through St. Anthony’s municipal insurance.
Though this can be seen as a win for the Castile family, one would imagine that they would much rather have Philando still here alive and well.
Watch a White man speak some realness about the Philando Castile tragedy.