Charges have been dismissed against a cousin of Philando Castile who was accused of throwing objects at police in a protest that broke out on Interstate 94 shortly after Castile was fatally shot by a police officer last summer.
Officials with the Carver County Attorney’s Office announced their decision to drop the case against Louis Hunter Wednesday morning.
The decision comes about a week after protesters gathered in downtown St. Paul to call for dismissal of the two second-degree riot charges facing the 38-year-old, who is a second cousin of Philando Castile.
Castile was fatally shot by a former St. Anthony police officer during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights on July 6, 2016.
After reviewing more than 100 police reports as well as some 60 hours of video footage captured at the riot that erupted on the interstate in the days following his death, authorities said in a press release Wednesday morning that they were unable to find conclusive evidence linking Hunter to the allegations made in the criminal complaint.
Without it, the case rested on eyewitness identification of Hunter’s alleged conduct, and that wasn’t enough, the release said.
“Identification cases can be some of the most difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” the release said. “When police are suddenly thrust into a high stress situation and their personal safety is threatened, their ability to accurately observe details and later recall events can be diminished. Here the officers were faced with significant challenges as they were greatly outnumbered, many protesters were extremely angry and violent, and the officers’ safety was in imminent risk. Thus, inconsistencies existed leading to the state’s inability to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The release went on to say that the decision to dismiss the charges against Hunter was not “a pronouncement of (his) innocence.”
Carver County Attorney Mark Metz declined to comment further on his decision.
Hunter’s attorney, Timothy Phillips, did not immediately return calls for comment.
Some 300 people participated in the freeway protest, which turned violent after some in the crowd began throwing debris and other items at police. Some of the officers sustained injuries.
Hunter was accused of being among those who threw objects during the temporary shutdown of the highway and was subsequently charged with two counts of second-degree riot with a dangerous weapon, both felonies.
The charges were the harshest of any filed against those arrested during the riot. Some 40 others still face misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly and public nuisance.
About 20 of them rejected plea deals to express their outrage over what they said were unwarranted charges against Hunter, who has long maintained he was innocent of the allegations.
While Ramsey County filed the initial charges against Hunter, the case was moved to Carver County once authorities discovered Hunter’s relationship to Castile. Ramsey County, at the time, was considering a criminal case against the police officer who shot Castile.
That officer, Jeronimo Yanez, was acquitted of a manslaughter charge in his death earlier this summer.
Hunter spoke publicly for the first time about his case at the protest held in downtown St. Paul in his honor last week.
The father of four thanked those who have supported him and asked them to continue to do so.
“I am innocent of all my charges,” Hunter said. “I showed up to protest in the death of my cousin. I am still outraged about the killing of my cousin. … But I didn’t throw anything. I never done nothing to harm any officer or no one there. I came and I went home.”
He added that the case had caused him to lose his home, business and vehicle.
Hunter addressed Carver County’s decision in a Facebook post Wednesday morning. It read: “God is so good they just dropped all my charges thank you Jesus.”
It had already been liked more than 400 times by Wednesday afternoon.
Allysza Castile, Philando Castile’s sister, was among those who “liked” it.
Michelle Gross, president of the local activist group Communities United Against Police Brutality, was among those who attended the recent protest in downtown St. Paul.
She described Carver County’s decision as “wonderful.”
“From the very beginning I knew that this was an innocent man and I thought he had been put through an awful lot … So I am just really happy to hear that this is happened.”