Police said they received two calls of a vehicle being broken down and blocking a road.
Advertisement
The fatal shooting by a white police officer of an unarmed black man with his hands raised has been described as “difficult to watch” by the police chief who released footage of the killing.
Police say Crutcher did not have a gun on him or in his vehicle, and video footage of the shooting showed him walking toward his SUV with his hands in the air.
Shelby and Turnbough have been placed on administrative leave as the Tulsa Police Department conduct an investigation. According to ABC News, “d$3 ozens of protesters have called for Shelby’s immediate arrest”, and protests continue in Tulsa.
Attorney Benjamin Crump, centre, one of the attorneys for Crutcher’s family, says that Terence Crutcher’s hands were up contrary to police reports. “We’re treated as, I guess, criminals suspects that they fear”, Crump said.
The shooting of Terence Crutcher, 40, by Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby after his sport utility vehicle broke down on Friday, was the latest in a series of fatal shootings that have raised questions of racial bias in USA policing. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma also condemned the shooting.
“I want to assure our community and I want to assure all of you and people across the nation watching this: We will achieve justice”. These Tulsa Police Department officers have made it abundantly clear how little regard they have for Tulsa’s communities of color. By shooting a defenseless black man and then shirking their legal and moral obligation to render aid as he lay dying in the street, these TPD officers clearly could not care less about whether the black citizens they are sworn to protect live or die. Crutcher died at a hospital later that evening.
As Kiesel notes, Crutcher’s race is an important aspect of the case.
The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the shooting.
King presents evidence suggesting that Crutcher’s race was a factor in his murder. This reiterates the narrative two officers in a helicopter hovering above were heard saying as the scene unfolded: “Looks like a bad dude, too”.
What does that even mean? He wasn’t even wanted for a crime, but was there because his auto [had] broken down on the way from school.
We the People Oklahoma, a group of community activists, reiterated calls for change to Tulsa police’s protocol during their own press conference. Her husband was in the police helicopter that recorded the shooting.
Officer Betty Shelby was among the officers who responded.
The backup quarterback says he’s received death threats through social media and other avenues since he began to protest during the national anthem last month.
“This country should be embracing those peaceful athletes and hope that they are the model for what’s to come”, King says in another piece published Tuesday.
Within seconds, Crutcher is apparently hit by the Taser and Shelby’s fatal shot.
The death is the latest in a long line of fatal shootings by officers of black men that have led to racial tensions across the States.
Advertisement
Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker confirmed to the Tulsa World (http://bit.ly/2d6cYIh ) that investigators recovered a vial of PCP in Terence Crutcher’s SUV.
