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Tulsa police officer charged after unarmed Terence Crutcher shot dead

The charges in Tulsa come as a police shooting in Charlotte, N.C., has, by contrast, brought two nights of protests and unrest.

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Crutcher kept putting his hands in his pockets, and Shelby ordered him to show his hands, police say in the affidavit.

Meanwhile, family members and community leaders who have viewed the footage said it clearly shows that Crutcher’s hands were in the air when he was shot.

However, Terence’s family immediately refuted the claim, saying he was no threat to the officers, had no weapons and committed no crimes. They say what appears to be blood on the auto after the shooting shows that the SUV’s window was closed, not open as police claim. The police department said he wasn’t armed and didn’t have a weapon in his vehicle.

Her lawyer has said Mr Crutcher was not following police commands and that she opened fire when he began to reach into his vehicle window. “They asked him to show his hands”.

Crutcher was wearing “baggy clothes” but that Shelby “was not able to see any weapons or bulges indicating a weapon was present”, the affidavit states.

Shelby fatally shot 40-year-old Terence Crutcher after his SUV stopped in a roadway last week. The case first goes to a judge, who will decide whether there is enough evidence for a trial.

If convicted, Shelby could face at least four years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Criminal charges for police officers who kill in the line of duty seem to be becoming more common, as prosecutors are coming under increased pressure to hold law enforcement agents accountable in questionable cases. Shelby, he said, wasn’t “really sure what [was] going on”, Wood said.

“We’re going to break the chains of injustice”.

The police use of force against black men has for two years been the subject of protests across the U.S., and now it has also become an election issue.

Tiffany Crutcher spoke to reporters outside the Tulsa County Courthouse on Thursday after officer Betty Shelby was charged with first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of her brother, Terence Crutcher.

“We will continue to be transparent and ensure the system carries out its responsibility to provide justice”.

Footage shows Shelby, who had called for back-up from other officers, walk towards Mr Crutcher with her gun drawn as he stands in the middle of a road, his vehicle around 20ft behind him.

The videos do not show what happened when Shelby first encountered Crutcher and the roughly two minutes before other officers arrived.

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine said the list of black men fatally shot by police had “grown too long” and the country needed to confront the issue of racial tensions. Nearly immediately, a woman’s voice yells on the radio, “Shots fired!”

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An officer follows Crutcher from behind for several seconds with a gun drawn before three more officers then converge on the scene as Crutcher walks toward the SUV.

Sept. 16 2016 police video Terence Crutcher left with his arms up is pursued by police officers as he walks next to his stalled SUV moments before he was shot and killed by one of the officers in Tulsa Okla. When it comes