A white Oklahoma police officer was charged with manslaughter Thursday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man whose vehicle had broken down in the middle of the street.
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Officer Betty Shelby was charged with first-degree manslaughter for the death of Terence Crutcher, 40.
The shooting of Terence Crutcher on last Friday, recorded by dashboard cameras and a police helicopter, lead to heightened tensions between yet another United States police department and African-Americans.
The swift action in Tulsa stood in contrast to Charlotte, North Carolina, where police refused under mounting pressure Thursday to release video of the shooting of another black man this week and the National Guard was called in to try to a head off a third night of violence.
Gov. Mary Fallin issued a statement, saying she prays that the decision to charge Shelby brings “some peace to the Crutcher family and the people of Tulsa”.
Other Tulsa news outlets reported Wednesday that a source within the Tulsa Police Department said Crutcher’s driver’s side window was rolled down. “We’re going to break the chains of police brutality”, she added.
“But I don’t think the charge was only to give the crowd some blood. No”. He said he had instructed his staff to file charges against Shelby at the start of Thursday’s brief news conference.
Shelby faces between four years and life in prison if convicted.
Attorneys for Crutcher’s family said they were “happy charges have been brought” against the officer and they will be seeking a “vigorous prosecution” of this case that results in a conviction.
“Not only for this family, not only for Terence but to be a deterrent for law officers all around this nation to know that you can not kill unarmed citizens”.
Video released by police showed Crutcher walking away from Shelby with his arms in the air.
According to an arrest affidavit, Shelby told investigators “that she was in fear for her life and thought Crutcher was going to kill her”. No gun was found on Crutcher or in his vehicle.
Regardless of the window’s position, Hall said, the affidavit notes that Shelby had cleared (checked) the front driver’s side before Crutcher approached her, so he said she would have known there was no weapon there.
She stopped behind his vehicle, which was a block away.
The affidavit said an officer flanking Shelby used a Taser on Crutcher, who was standing facing his vehicle.
The shooting can be seen on two videos provided by authorities – one from a police helicopter and the other from another officer’s dashboard camera. A man inside a police helicopter overhead says: “That looks like a bad dude, too”.
Authorities have held back many details, citing the investigation, but police confirmed the discovery of PCP in Crutcher’s vehicle and that Shelby had a stun gun but did not use it.
Shelby said she was traveling to another call when she came upon Crutcher.
Protesters who gathered Thursday said they’re unhappy that officer Betty Shelby wasn’t charged with first-degree murder in the September 16 death of 40-year-old Terence Crutcher.
In the videos, the officers surround Mr Crutcher and he suddenly drops to the ground.
President Barack Obama says recent reports of unarmed African Americans being shot by police “should be a source of concern for all Americans”. The officers back away and Mr Crutcher is left unattended on the street for about two minutes before an officer puts on medical gloves and begins to attend to him.
That decision that may prevent unrest in a city with a long history of tense race relations. As recently as 2013, a City Council vote to rename the city’s glitzy arts district, which had been named after the son of a Confederate veteran and Ku Klux Klan member, drew vehement opposition.
The possible penalty for conviction on first-degree manslaughter in Oklahoma is four years to life, according to Susan Witt, the spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.
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In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America”, Obama declined to address specific cases, although he noted that the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has invited the Justice Department to investigate the shooting there.
