Police Chief Pained Over Dayton's Remark That Castile Didn't Receive CPR
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The chief of police in Roseville is upset with Gov. Mark Dayton for saying last week that Philando Castile did not receive CPR after being shot by a police officer during a traffic stop.
Chief Rick Mathwig told CNN that it pained him to hear those remarks from the governor the day after the July 6 shooting in Falcon Heights.
"He didn't have a full picture, he was acting off of some information that was not correct," Mathwig said. "I don't know how he got the information, but I talked to the officers that night. I talked to them into the next morning, and they told me the information that was actually true, which is that they tried valiantly to save Mr. Castile's life."
Castile, 32, was shot by Jeronimo Yanez of the St. Anthony Police Department. The aftermath of the shooting was streamed live by Castile's girlfriend on Facebook, and the video quickly went viral, prompting international outrage.
Roseville officers responded to the shooting, which occurred on a suburb north of St. Paul, and performed CPR on Castile, Mathwig said.
Dayton, during a press conference the day after the shooting, said that Castile likely wouldn't have been shot if he were white – a comment for which the governor received widespread criticism. In that same press conference, he said that Castile didn't receive CPR from authorities on scene.
Witnesses, however, recorded video of officers administering CPR to Castile.