But the victim’s family has discounted that claim, saying the father of four posed no threat to the officers.
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The affidavit continues, “When they get to the vehicle, Officer Shelby stops at the left rear of the vehicle with her duty weapon pointed at Mr. Crutcher, as he continues on the driver’s side front door”. Police said after the incident that Mr Crutcher did not have a gun in his vehicle.
Shelby’s attorney, Scott Wood, has said Crutcher repeatedly ignored Shelby’s commands and did not respond to her questions. Last year, Kunzweiler charged a 73-year-old reserve sheriff’s deputy with second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting Eric Harris, an unarmed black man. The officers found no weapons on or near Crutcher, says the affidavit. It was also just extremely hard to imagine a plausible justification for her decision to shoot; even Donald Trump, who has been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, publicly condemned it, saying that people who “choke” while on duty should not be police officers. An officer faces first-degree manslaughter charges.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney representing the Crutcher family, said reports linking Crutcher to drugs were an attempt to “intellectually justify” Crutcher’s death.
Shelby, he said, wasn’t “really sure what [was] going on”, Wood said.
Noting that he had contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office about the case immediately after the shooting, Chief Jordan promised earlier this week, “We will achieve justice in this case”. Terence Crutcher was shot and killed by a Tulsa Police officer Friday night.
Betty Shelby, a five-year veteran of the force, has been charged with first-dgree manslaughter.
“No matter how you feel about the prosecutors’ decision in this case”, Fallin continued, “I hope Oklahomans will respect the views of your friends and neighbors because we still have to live peacefully together as we try to make sense of the circumstances that led to Mr. Crutcher’s death”. “These are important steps to ensure that justice and accountability prevails”. Police also acted quickly to provide videos of the shooting to black community leaders and members of Crutcher’s family and then released them to the public. A man inside a police helicopter overhead says: “That looks like a bad dude, too”.
Tulsa homicide Sgt. Dave Walker declined to say where the drug was found in the vehicle or if investigators had confirmed whether Crutcher was intoxicated during his interaction with police. Shelby’s lawyer has said Crutcher was behaving erratically and did not obey police commands.
“The videos don’t show what happened when Shelby first encountered Crutcher and the roughly two minutes that follow before other officers arrived”, Tulsa World reported.
Suddenly, Mr Crutcher collapses to the floor with blood pouring from his chest.
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Terence Crutcher was unarmed and had his hands in the air before being shot by police.
