A public official from a small Minnesota town is currently under fire over an offensive social media post that he put up following news of the settlement Philando Castile’s girlfriend received from the city earlier this week. If it were Elysian city councilman Tom McBroom’s guess, Diamond Reynolds will likely blow the $800,000 she is collecting, on drugs. Crack specifically. The small town official made the statement on Facebook after the agreement was announced on Tuesday, November 27.
“She needs to come off County and State Aid now that she has some cash. It’ll be gone in 6 months on crack cocaine,” wrote McBroom, who in addition to legislating in government, works as a sergeant with the Rice County Sheriff’s Office.
The informed public will recall a video surfacing of Reynolds sitting beside Castile, after having the presence of mind to take out her phone and begin recording the moments that immediately followed his shooting at the hands of officer Jeronimo Yanez in July of 2016. In the days that followed the shooting, additional recordings would come out to show Reynolds having a break down in front of her daughter while in police custody. The 4-year-old child also witnessed the shooting, as she sat in the back seat of the vehicle Castile was gunned down in.
City Pages reportedly contacted councilman/Sgt. McBroom to get him to expound on why he would make such an assertion when there is no verifiable record of Reynolds having ever had a crack-cocaine habit. It is reported that McBroom cited the crack-cocaine and opioid epidemic in the area and claimed that to his experience it hasn’t been uncommon to see locals come into settlement money as Reynolds has, and to spend it in an irresponsible manner.
“I’ve seen them come to court. They’ve lost their children, but they come to court dressed to the nines with Michael Kors purses. To be frank with you, they don’t have a pot to piss in,” City Pages reports McBroom saying. “I see it time and time again and I just shake my head and say why wasn’t there anyone to help that person?”
