In video from officers’ dashcams and also from a helicopter, four officers are seen responding as Crutcher holds his hands up in the air and walks away from officers, toward his stalled vehicle. Crutcher didn’t comply with the officer’s commands and reached inside his vehicle, according to the Tulsa Police Department.
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A police spokesman says Tulsa, Oklahoma, officers found the drug PCP in the vehicle of an unarmed black man who was shot to death by a white officer last week.
Terence Crutcher, was first tasered by officer Tyler Turnbough and then shot dead by officer Betty Shelby during an encounter in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at around 7.40 p.m. on Friday.
A man in the police helicopter circling above the scene can be heard saying during the incident: “Time for a Taser “and” That looks like a bad dude, too”.
Shelby, who is white, was one of four police officers who were standing at the rear bumper of Crutcher’s auto as he stood next to his vehicle around 7:45 p.m. Friday. According to Shelby’s lawyer, Scott Wood, the officer claims Crutcher was unresponsive and not following her orders.
Crutcher was shot less than 30 seconds after the second vehicle arrived, United States media reported.
What is clear from the helicopter video is that even from afar, police considered this unarmed man a threat.
Police Chief Chuck Jordan announced Monday, before the video and audio recordings were released, that Crutcher had no weapon on him or in his SUV when he was shot. Only the second patrol car’s dashboard cam was on.
She was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.
On September 15, 13-year-old African-American teen Tyre King, was fatally shot by a police officer who had brandished a firearm which was later determined to be an air gun.
Hillary Clinton spoke out Tuesday about the death of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, arguing that the epidemic of police officers killing unarmed black people should be recognized as “intolerable”.
Jordan said Crutcher had no weapon on him or in his SUV. In a news conference, Tiffany Crutcher, Terrence’s twin sister, told reporters their family wants justice because “that big “bad dude” – his life mattered”. “That big bad dude loved God”.
She says he was a dedicated Christian: “The big bad dude was my twin brother. We want to make sure people will come out, and it’s going to be peaceful so people don’t have to worry about that”, Lewis said.
“That big bad dude was a son”.
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“That big bad dude was at church singing with all of his flaws, every week”. As Crutcher approaches the driver’s side of the SUV, three male officers walk up and Crutcher appears to lower his hands and place them on the vehicle. They then crouched down behind a police cruiser.
