White Minnesota officer who shot dead black motorist Philando Castile quits job

The Minnesota police officer, who was recently acquitted in last year's fatal shooting of black motorist Philando Castile, has quit his job.

Jeronimo Yanez was associated with the Minneapolis suburb of St Anthony Police Department at the time of the incident. He was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter after he fatally shot Castile seven times during a traffic stop on 6 July 2016.

The city of St Anthony announced on Monday (10 July) that Yanez, a Hispanic, is no longer associated with them. He is to receive $48,500 (£37,679) as part of the agreement to leave office. However, the terms of the agreement between him and the department have not been disclosed.

"Since Officer Yanez was not convicted of a crime, as a public employee, he would have appeal and grievance rights if terminated," the city said in a statement.

"A reasonable voluntary separation agreement brings to a close one part of this horrible tragedy. The City concluded this was the most thoughtful way to move forward and help the community-wide healing process proceed."

Shortly after the verdict was pronounced acquitting Yanez, the city declared that he would no longer be part of the police department in order to serve the public best, and that it was negotiating a "voluntary separation agreement" with him, the Associated Press noted.

Besides the $48,500 settlement, Yanez is also reported to receive pay for up to 600 hours of accrued and unused personal leave pay, according to the agreement. But it does not say how much time Yanez has accrued.

He will receive the amount in a lump sum after deducting state and federal taxes, the city said. Yanez was reportedly drawing a salary of more than $72,600 at the time of the incident in June last year. This does not include overtime pay, the documents released by the city revealed.

Under the separation agreement, which has the official date of separation as 30 June, Yanez was given 10 days to consider and sign it, and 15 days should he rescind it in writing. But he wrote his initials and signed it on Monday (10 July), AP reported.

Yanez had been with the St Anthony department since November 2011.

The son of a Mexican immigrant had testified in court that he shot Castile over fears that the 32-year-old was reaching for his gun when the officer demanded that he show his driver's licence and insurance.

However, Castile's girlfriend told the court that her boyfriend was only reaching for the papers demanded by the officer.

The shooting of Castile had sparked widespread anger among the black community in the US.

Castile's family reached a $3m settlement with the city of St Anthony last month.

Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was in the car with him when he was shot, live-streamed the bloody aftermath of the shooting and the video quickly went viral on social media.

On 20 June, the Minnesota authorities also released a dashcam footage of the actual shooting.