Dallas PD Executed On False Premise

As a nation we mourned much of Friday for the loss of 5 Dallas PD officers whose deaths may be predicated on a completely false pretense. 

The man who shot the police officers, was then cornered and killed in a police stand-off, was later found to have had massive quantities of illegal explosive, military grade weaponry in his apartment. 

According to the Dallas PD he expressed a desire to kill white people and white police officers–at least in part–in retaliation for the death of what had been reported about the death of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights Minnesota.

It appears, as more facts are being now made public, that nearly the entire narrative of the Castile shooting has proven false.

According to police dispatch audio Castile and Ms. Diamond Reynolds (the woman in the Facebook LIVE video) were pulled over by police because Castile matched a “Be On The Lookout” Alert for an armed robbery suspect from a day or two prior:


Since the video from Reynolds only picks up from moments after the altercation took place she was able to make a series of false statements that–even as the viral video demonstrates–upon closer examination are beginning to unravel. Unfortunately, the false statements–having gone viral, and now being pushed by everyone from the media to Black Lives Matter to the White House–have been used to create a backlash against police officers nationwide. 

Police officers in: Dallas, Tennessee, Missouri, and Georgia have been ambushed, shot and/or killed in the past two days as a result of this false narrative.

Here’s a partial correction to that narrative with some previously unrevealed facts: 

1. Officer who shot Castile is Hispanic: Jeronimo Yanez.

2. The two officers who pulled Castile over had just cause. Police Officers  Yanez and Joseph Kauser pulled over Mr. Castile and Ms. Reynolds because the driver, Philando Castile, matched the suspect profile in an armed robbery which occurred on July 2nd, at a convenience store, only blocks from where their car was pulled over. The armed robbery occurred on July 2nd 7:30pm (Sat). The closed circuit television images were given to media and detectives on July 5th (Tuesday). A “Be On Look Out” alert was issued the same day, Tuesday July 5th. Philando Castile was pulled over on July 6th.

3. The police radio dispatch clearly establishes the reason why officer Yanez stopped the vehicle. From the radio dispatch of Officer Jeronimo Yanez:

“I’m going to stop a car. I’m going to check IDs. I have reason to pull it over. The two occupants look just like people that were involved in a robbery. The driver looks more like one of our suspects, just ‘cause of the wide set nose.” 

Roughly 90 seconds later the shooting occurs.

4. Ms. Diamond Reynolds begins to knowingly narrate the now provably false viral Facebook LIVE video.

5. Reynolds falsely claims Castile was pulled over for a broken tail light. (Dispatch recordings directly refer to the potential identity match of the armed robbery.)

6. Reynolds also falsely claims her boyfriend, Castile, was holding a concealed carry permit that was resting on his left thigh. According to the local county sheriff who oversees the Concealed Carry Permit process, Mr. Castile had never requested a concealed carry permit from their office:

7. It does appear however that while Castile did not have a concealed carry permit, nor was it sitting on his left thigh, there does appear to be a hand gun located on Castile’s thigh:

This also appears to be why Officer Yanez repeatedly instructs Ms. Reynolds not to reach toward Castile. The police report also indicated that a handgun matching the description of the gun used in the armed robbery was recovered from the scene.

8. Mr. Castile matched the physical description of the suspect as given by eye witnesses of the armed robbery. 

[…] The other suspect was described as a black man with shoulder-length dreadlocks, who wore tan pants, tan shoes with white soles, a green jacket, a green baseball cap and glasses, the release says. He also had some of his hair pulled into a bun through the strap on the back of his hat and had a small mustache and facial hair on his chin. 

Similar clothes as noted on the robbery suspect are also noted in the Facebook images of Mr. Castile. 

 Whether or not Castile committed the armed robbery would ultimately have fallen to a judge and jury to decide. But matching the description, being in the same neighborhood, an illegal gun in the car, all raised the reason for concern as Officer Yanez approached his responsibilities in keeping the community of Falcon Heights safe that day.

Seeing that officer Yanez also shot the suspect only in the arm it is clear his intention was to not immediately use deadly force to kill the suspect. The limit and location of those shots clearly demonstrate different intent (to wound) than if the officer had shot Castile in the head or torso (kill shots.)

Any direct commands not followed by the suspect would also add to the concerns of the investigating officers.

The aftermath of the video while horrific–especially as divorced from facts–led to a premature public outcry. 

The Minnesota Governor’s reckless throwing of the Falcon Heights officers under the bus is unforgivable. Casting judgment on those officers before the facts were known also likely got the officers killed in Dallas.

Former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik commenting on my show Friday afternoon was proper in not only his assessment of the damage that ignorant or purposefully misleading office holders can do, but also in his conclusion that the actual actions of the Minnesota Governor, President Obama, and Attorney General Lynch all contributed to the deaths of the Dallas PD with their reckless statements.

In short Officer Yanez appears to have used proper protocol and restraint in the traffic stop of Castile. It appears to save herself Castile’s girlfriend knowingly made several false statements on Facebook LIVE to attempt to begin a false narrative-which appears to have initially worked. It appears that narrative was parroted by gutless politicians who did not wait for the facts to be established before throwing law enforcement under the bus. And in doing so it appears to have green-lighted further reckless and stupid public comment from Lynch and Obama that lit the fuse to the powder keg that got twelve police officers shot nearly half of whom lost their lives.

I spent three hours on-air Friday mourning the loss of innocent victims of wrongful violence. I asked–as the Police chief in Dallas pleaded with us to do–for people to pray for our nation. Pastors of every walk of racial, geographical, and socio-economic circumstance joined. 

It is my belief that the people of America genuinely wish for true resolution to be birthed.

But without building that resolve on genuine truth no trust can be built.

This series of events speaks to the lack of judgment and leadership we have in our incompetent, dishonest leaders at the very top of our nation.

More importantly it speaks as to why a change must be made.