CONTROVERSY

18 Arrested in Protests Over Minnesota Officer’s Acquittal

After crowds blocked off a freeway.

Eighteen demonstrators were arrested early Saturday in protests against the acquittal of a Minnesota police officer who fatally shot a black motorist last summer. Demonstrators took to the streets after police officer Jeronimo Yanez was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the killing of Philando Castile last July. Authorities said about 1,500 protesters blocked off Interstate 94 in St. Paul after the verdict was announced and then refused to leave when police asked them to disperse. Eighteen of them, two of whom are journalists, now face unlawful assembly charges. The shooting of Castile—the aftermath of which was livestreamed by his girlfriend on Facebook—renewed concerns over excessive use of force by police. Castile’s girlfriend said he’d been reaching for his wallet when he was shot, though Yanez testified that he feared for his life when Castile reached for a weapon that he’d admitted to having.