An attorney for a white Oklahoma police officer who fatally
shot an unarmed black man has said the man ignored officers” commands and was
reaching through a window of his SUV when he was killed.
But police video from the incident Friday shows 40-year-old
Terence Crutcher walking away from the officers and toward his SUV with his
hands up when one officer shocks him with a stun gun and he falls to the
ground. He is then shot and killed. Police were called to the scene to respond
to a report of a stalled vehicle.
Police Chief Chuck Jordan announced Monday, before the video
and audio recordings were released, that Crutcher had no weapon on him or in
his SUV when he was shot. It”s not clear from the footage what led Betty
Shelby, the officer who fired the fatal shot, to draw her gun or what orders
officers gave Crutcher. Shelby”s attorney, Scott Wood, said Crutcher was not
following the officers” commands.
Local and federal investigations are underway to determine
whether criminal charges are warranted in the shooting or if Crutcher”s civil
rights were violated.
Tulsa police helicopter footage was among several clips
showing the shooting of Crutcher and its aftermath. In that video, a man in the
helicopter that arrives above the scene as Crutcher walks to the vehicle can be
heard saying “time for a Taser.” He then says: “That looks like a bad dude,
too. Probably on something.”
Crutcher”s twin sister, Tiffany Crutcher, called for charges
Monday.
“The big bad dude was my twin brother. That big bad dude was
a father,” she said. “That big bad dude was a son. That big bad dude was
enrolled at Tulsa Community College, just wanting to make us proud. That big
bad dude loved God. That big bad dude was at church singing with all of his
flaws, every week. That big bad dude, that”s who he was.”
Police video shows Crutcher walking toward his SUV that is
stopped in the middle of the road. His hands are up and a female officer is
following him. As Crutcher approaches the driver”s side of the SUV, three male
officers walk up and Crutcher appears to lower his hands and place them on the
vehicle. The officers surround him, making it harder to see his actions from
the dashboard camera”s angle.
Crutcher can be seen dropping to the ground. Someone on the
police radio says, “I think he may have just been tasered.” One of the officers
near Crutcher backs up slightly.
Then almost immediately, someone can be heard yelling,
“Shots fired!” Crutcher”s head then drops, leaving him completely lying out in
the street.
After that, someone on the police radio can be heard saying,
“Shots fired. We have one suspect down.”
Officer Tyler Turnbough, who is also white, used a stun gun
on Crutcher, police said. Shelby”s attorney, Wood, said Turnbough fired the
stun gun at the same time Shelby opened fire because both perceived a threat.
The initial moments of Crutcher”s encounter with police are
not shown in the footage, and Wood said the situation unfolded for about 2
minutes before the videos began. Shelby did not activate her patrol car”s
dashcam, said police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie, and the ground-level video
released Monday came from the car of a second officer who arrived at the scene.
Initial police briefings indicated Crutcher was not obeying
officers” commands, but MacKenzie said Monday she didn”t know what Crutcher was
doing that prompted police to shoot. Two 911 calls described an SUV that had
been abandoned in the middle of the road. One unidentified caller said the
driver was acting strangely, adding, “I think he”s smoking something.”
After the shooting, Crutcher could be seen lying on the side
of the road, blood pooling around his body, for nearly two minutes before
anyone checked on him. When asked why police did not provide immediate
assistance, MacKenzie said: “I don”t know that we have protocol on how to
render aid to people.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, which also
called for charges, said Crutcher was left to bleed while officers stood by.
The group”s executive director, Ryan Kiesel, said Crutcher”s death shows “how
little regard” Tulsa police have for the community”s minorities.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the county courthouse
Monday evening holding signs that read, “Justice 4 Crutch” and “Don”t Shoot.”
U.S. Attorney Danny C. Williams said the Department of
Justice will conduct a civil rights investigation to determine if charges
should be brought in the case.
Speaking Monday in Tulsa, civil rights attorney Benjamin
Crump said Crutcher committed no crime and gave officers no reason to shoot
him.
“When unarmed people of color break down on the side of the
road, we”re not treated as citizens needing help. We”re treated as, I guess,
criminals — suspects that they fear,” said Crump, who is representing
Crutcher”s family just as he did relatives of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, black
Florida teenager who was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in
2012.
He said Tulsa police drew their own conclusions about
Crutcher.
“So I guess it”s a crime now to be a big black man,” Crump
said. “My God, help us.”
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