Authorities charged a white Tulsa police officer Thursday with first-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting last week of Terence Crutcher, who was black and unarmed. The criminal complaint against her said that her “fear resulted in her unreasonable actions which led her to shooting” Crutcher on a Tulsa highway, after his SUV broke down.
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Dashcam and aerial footage of the shooting and its aftermath showed Crutcher walking away from Shelby with his arms in the air. There have also been questions about a reported vial of PCP found inside Crutcher’s vehicle and an official toxicology report has yet to surface.
If convicted, Shelby could face up to four years to life in prison – something that rapper Boosie Badazz, formerly known as Lil Boosie, has a serious problem with. Demonstrations in Tulsa since Crutcher’s death have been consistently peaceful.
Scott Wood, Shelby’s lawyer, said that the officer believed that 40-year-old Crutcher was under the influence of the synthetic drug PCP.
Betty Shelby was released on $50,000 bond.
On September 16, she shot dead Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man.
District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler filed the charges Thursday afternoon against Shelby, saying the officer “reacted unreasonably” when she shot Crutcher, who did not have a gun.
“The chain breaks here”.
A warrant has been issued for Shelby’s arrest and arrangements have been made for her surrender to the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Department. “We’re going to break the chains of police brutality”, she added.
Shelby stated that Crutcher attempted to reach into the window of his SUV prompting the shooting, but it was later revealed that the man was not in possession of a firearm. She was on her way to a domestic violence call when she saw Crutcher standing in the street, according to investigators. Wood says Shelby “didn’t even hear her gunshot”.
On Friday evening, Shelby responded to a call about what appeared to the caller to be an abandoned vehicle parked in the middle of the road. Then she saw Crutcher and talked to him.
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Police cameras, including ones mounted in squad cars and in a helicopter, captured the Crutcher shooting on tape.
