Thursday, March 28, 2024

Betty Shelby: Tulsa Cop Who Shot Unarmed Terence Crutcher Acquitted by Jury

*Why are we not surprised. Betty Shelby, the white Tulsa, Oklahoma police officer who shot and killed Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man in Tulsa last year, was acquitted by a jury on Wednesday evening.

As we reported earlier, officer Shelby, 43, had been charged with manslaughter in the September 2016 shooting death of Crutcher, 40, during an encounter that began with the report of a stalled vehicle.

The district attorney’s office announced a verdict had been reached shortly after 9pm local time, more than eight hours after deliberations began, reported KJRH-TV, according to NBC News.

The manslaughter trial against Shelby opened May 10 with prosecutors laying out how the five-year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department encountered Crutcher — what should have been a routine traffic matter that went too far, they said.

Instead, Crutcher’s death — another involving an unarmed black man at the hands of police — touched off Black Lives Matter protests and calls for greater transparency from local authorities.

As you can imagine, Crutcher’s family was crushed by the verdict and called the police department “corrupt.”

Tiffany Crutcher, the twin sister of Terrence Crutcher, said her brother’s hands were up, that he was not an imminent threat or attack her and didn’t deserve to be shot.

“Terence was not the aggressor; Betty Shelby was the aggressor.”

tiffany & terence crutcher
Tiffaany and Terence Crutcher

Shelby was among the officers who responded to reports of a stalled SUV left abandoned in the middle of a road just after 7:30 p.m. local time, prosecutors said.

Police said Crutcher approached the vehicle but failed to listen to commands from officers. Shelby asked Crutcher if the car was his, but only mumbled to himself and didn’t respond, according to an affidavit.

Crutcher, who was unarmed, was seen walking to his car with his hands up before reaching into the driver’s side window. One of the officers fired his Taser at him. Shelby also fired her gun — striking the father of four in the lung, police said.

Video footage taken from helicopter and cruiser dashcams don’t provide clear views of the moment she shot him.

You can read/learn MORE about this story at NBC News.

 

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