Hours after a prosecutor accused her of “unlawfully and unnecessarily” shooting an unarmed man dead in the middle of a street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Officer Betty Shelby turned herself in early Friday.
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Court papers filed by Tulsa County said Officer Betty Shelby escalated the situation and over-reacted in shooting Terence Crutcher, 40.
Shelby and another officer, Tyler Turnbough, encountered Crutcher as he was walking near his stalled vehicle, while they were on their way to another call.
The criminal complaint against Shelby said her “fear resulted in her unreasonable actions which led her to shooting” Crutcher.
Attorney’s for the family of Terence Crutcher say they are “happy charges have been brought” again Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby and that they will be seeking a “vigorous prosecution”.
Scott Wood, Shelby’s lawyer, said that the officer believed that 40-year-old Crutcher was under the influence of the synthetic drug PCP. 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.
The attorney’s also expressed gratitude toward the Tulsa Police Department.
However, the family’s attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons refuted Shelby’s claims saying that video evidence showed that the window was rolled up.
An officer follows Crutcher from behind for several seconds with a gun drawn before three more officers then converge on the scene as Crutcher walks toward the SUV.
Crutcher was wearing baggy clothes but Shelby “was not able to see any weapons or bulges indicating a weapon was present”, according to the affidavit. “We’re going to break the chains of police brutality”, Tiffany Crutcher added.
Tulsa Community College says a ceremony will be held at noon Friday honoring Terence Crutcher, who was a student there.
Leanna Crutcher, mother of Terence Crutcher, who was shot and killed by police in Tulsa, Oklahoma speaks with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day” on September 21, 2016.
If convicted she could face a minimum of four years in prison.
Following the shooting, Shelby’s attorney told The New York Times that she thought Crutcher had a gun, and that he “acted erratically, refused to comply with several orders, tried to put his hand in his pocket and reached inside his auto window” before she shot him.
Police officers have claimed that Crutcher was high on PCP, that he reached into his auto window, and that he was generally non-compliant with officer commands.
“I don’t know why things happen in this world the way they do”, he said.
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Tulsa police say Crutcher did not have a gun on him or in his vehicle.
