Officer Betty Shelby fired a single shot, killing the father of four who was reportedly on his way home from a music appreciation class at Tulsa Community College when his auto broke down in the middle of the street, his family has said.
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Shelby opened fire when Crutcher’s “left hand goes through the window” of his SUV, Wood said. They disputed the allegation that Crutcher was reaching into his vehicle, and hammered home that the police department found no weapon inside that disabled SUV.
Wood emphasized that the encounter between Shelby and Crutcher began more than a minute before the start of the released video.
Police had originally been called to the scene after receiving an emergency call about an abandoned vehicle blocking the road, with one caller saying Mr Crutcher had left the vehicle saying he was anxious it might explode.
Chuck Jordan, Tulsa’s police chief, said Monday at a news conference that no gun was found in Crutcher’s SUV. “We didn’t see what was in the auto, and it has nothing to do with the actions taken because the officers couldn’t see what was in the vehicle”, Sharpton said. She looked into the passenger’s side to make sure no one was on the floor of the vehicle, and as she was getting ready to move to the driver’s side, she turned around and saw Crutcher walking toward her, Wood said.
“To try and come now with some bogus justification, to say that he had PCP – well, let’s look at the video”, said civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking alongside Crutcher’s family Wednesday in NY. But those orders can not be heard in the audio from the dashcam video, which starts as another patrol vehicle pulls up to the scene, showing Crutcher walking toward the SUV with his hands up as Shelby follows him, apparently with her weapon drawn and pointing at Crutcher. Trump said during a Fox News town hall taping that the tactic that gives police the ability to stop and search anyone they deem suspicious had “worked incredibly well” in New York, where it expanded under former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Wood said Shelby has completed drug-recognition expert training and thought Crutcher was acting like he might be under the influence of PCP. Shelby tried to get Crutcher to talk to her, but he simply mumbled something unintelligible and stared at her, Wood said.
It is alleged he then put his hands in his pocket again, to which Ms Shelby again ordered him to take his hand from his pocket. Shelby then radioed in that she had a subject “who is not following commands”. In the video, Crutcher can be seen with his hands raised above his head prior to his death.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has made curbing gun violence and police brutality a central part of her candidacy.
Trump, joined by running mate Mike Pence at the OH event, has routinely praised police officers in his speeches to supporters.
Police had claimed that Crutcher was reaching inside his auto without his hands up. Hundreds of protesters rallied Tuesday night outside police headquarters in downtown Tulsa calling for her firing.
Multiple police cameras, including ones mounted in squad cars and in a helicopter, captured the Crutcher shooting on tape.
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Whether Crutcher possessed or used drugs is also irrelevant, the lawyers said. In her interview with homicide detectives, she said, “I was never so scared in my life as in that moment right then”, according to Wood.
