Crutcher, an unarmed black man was killed by a white Oklahoma officer Friday, Sept. 16, 2016, who was responding to a stalled vehicle.
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While the police dept. works on the script that officials will recite over the next month as they attempt to justify being trigger happy murderers, Crutcher’s sister is demanding that prosecutors charge the officer who shot him.
The parking lot of the Antioch Baptist Church was filled, as was the overflow parking lot at a nearby school. The 40-year-old Crutcher was fatally shot September 16 by Officer Betty Jo Shelby. Officer Betty Shelby was charged with first-degree manslaughter on Thursday. She says a student in a group of 13- and 14-year-olds said other police shootings were quickly forgotten, but this one feels “real” because it happened “so close to home.”Lee, who’s white, says she told the students, “We have different skin colors”. She was released after posting bond. The killing prompted several rallies and protests throughout the city in the past week, all of them peaceful.
“Just like Terence, I’m 40; just like Terence, I’m bald; just like Terence, some think I’m a bad dude”, Simmons said.
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“Too many young people have died in this community, way too many”, the mayor told attendees. Crutcher’s death last week and the fatal shooting of a black man earlier this week by a police officer in North Carolina are two of the latest officer-involved shootings to stoke concerns about biased policing in the United States. “I’m definitely not looking forward that day and her strength has been encouraging”, said friend Tracy Buchanan.
