If you’ve been on social media today, you’ve likely heard about another senseless killing of a black man, Terence Crutcher, by a police officer. Crutcher’s sister said she hopes the officer who pulled the trigger stands trial.
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The entire episode was captured on video footage shot from both a dashboard from a police cruiser on the scene as well as a camera that was rolling from a helicopter hovering above. While initial reports from officers involved claimed that 40-year-old Terence Crutcher disobeyed instructions and refused to put up his hands, new video of the incident shows Crutcher with his hands raised in the air as he returned to his vehicle moments before he was shot by police.
Shelby’s attorney, Scott Wood, claims she fired because Crutcher reached into the vehicle. In a bit that was more barbed than anything that happened during Trump’s appearance, Fallon handed Clinton a bag of items that Trump left behind: a bag of softballs (indicating that she would get the same treatment as her rival), a photo of Putin framed in a heart, and a CD of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. In an audio recording to dispatch, she claims she is unable to see his hands.
Videos released by the Tulsa Police Department Monday shows Crutcher walking with his hands up before the shooting, but it is not clear on the videos where his hands were at the moment the shooting occurred.
Tulsa Police spokesperson Jeanne Mackenzie initially told KOTV.
Two 911 calls brought officers to the scene around 7:30 p.m. Friday.
“Yesterday, in America, we witnessed a person who bombed a building and injured 29 people, in fact, and he wasn’t taken down with lethal force”, Crump said, referring the the arrest Monday of the man suspected in a series of explosions in NY and New Jersey.
Officer Betty Shelby was first on the scene and was unsure of what to expect. Shelby did not activate her patrol car’s dashcam, said police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie, and the ground-level video released Monday came from the auto of a second officer who arrived at the scene.
Police said on Monday that no weapon was found on Crutcher or in his vehicle.
“There are good, honorable, cool-headed police officers”. Authorities have said that Crutcher did not comply with commands, although video footage seems to show him complying with officers’ directives, walking with his hands in the air.
Just like that, Crutcher drove him to his job, and they’ve been friends ever since.
In the video taken from the helicopter, a male is heard to say “That looks like a bad dude too. And what he got was a bullet in the lungs”, said Benjamin Crump, a civil rights attorney who has represented the families of the slain in many high-profile police shootings. “I mean, this is just unbearable, and it needs to be intolerable”.
Within seconds, Crutcher is apparently hit by the Taser and Shelby’s fatal shot.
Helicopter and dash cam footage show Crutcher following orders and walking slowly back to his vehicle with his hands up.
An investigation into a deadly officer-involved incident began Friday in Tulsa when 40-year-old Terence Crutcher, an unarmed man, was shot and killed.
Three more officers arrived to serve as backup.
Among police charged recently under federal statutes was Michael Slager, a former SC officer who a year ago fatally shot Walter Scott as he fled from a traffic stop.
Shelby has been placed on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of a criminal investigation. She has worked in the department since 2011.
State and federal investigations into the shooting death are underway.
But however tempting it might be to jump to conclusions based in part on what we think we know from other shootings, we should pause and reflect on the information we have – and don’t have – available right now.
We’ll update you as the police investigation into Crutcher’s murder continues. R.I.P.
And that is something we never see.
“We’ve got to tackle systemic racism”.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the county courthouse Monday evening holding signs that read, “Justice 4 Crutch” and “Don’t Shoot”. As they walked around downtown Tulsa, they demanded further transparency as well as improved training for local police.
No gun was found on Crutcher or in his vehicle, police said.
“Him having his hands up, walking toward his vehicle, he was walking away from the officers”.
“Police treated Crutcher differently than they would if a white person had been stopped in a similar instance”, said Sharon Smith, 60, an African-American resident of the suburb of Broken Arrow.
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Kunzweiler, elected in 2014, was the DA when charges were brought against Robert Bates, a reserve deputy later convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting an unarmed man in 2015 in Tulsa when he mistakenly fired his handgun instead of his stun gun.
