St. Anthony To Dismiss Officer Yanez Following Verdict
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The City of St. Anthony is preparing to offer Officer Jeronimo Yanez a voluntary separation agreement, in an announcement made within an hour of his exoneration of manslaughter charges in the death of Philando Castile.
"The City of St. Anthony has concluded that the public will be best served if Officer Yanez is no longer a police officer in our city," the statement said. "The terms of this agreement will be negotiated in the near future, so details are not available at this time."
The city said that Yanez would not be returning to active duty.
After days of deliberation, a jury found Yanez, who shot Castile during a traffic stop last summer, not guilty of second-degree manslaughter in the school cafeteria worker's death.
Four days after attorney's made closing arguments, a jury decided Friday that the 29-year-old police officer was not guilty of "culpable negligence" in Castile's death. The officer would've faced up to a decade in prison.
He was also found not guilty of two counts of endangerment by intentionally shooting a firearm, one count relating to Castille's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, and the other pertaining to her child, who was sitting in the back seat.
