What You Need to Know about Terrance Crutcher’s Murder

Heavy.com

Terrance Crutcher, an unarmed black man was fatally shot by white police officer Betty Shelby in Tulsa, Oklahoma after his car broke down in the road.

Crutcher was standing near his broken down SUV in the middle of the street with his hands in the air as officers began to approach him.

With weapons raised, police slowly approached the father of four before the officers assumed Crutcher was reaching into the car’s side window to reach for a weapon. 

According to USAtoday, "The officers at the scene found no weapons on or near Mr. Crutcher and no weapons were found near, inside, or in the vicinity of the vehicle," according to the document. "Officer Shelby made statements that she was in fear of her life and thought that Mr. Crutcher was going to kill her. When she began following Mr. Crutcher to the vehicle with her duty weapon drawn, she was yelling for him to stop and get on his knees repeatedly."

Crutcher’s family attorney Melvin Hall pointed out that the family legal team had blown up a photo of the scene that they say shows the driver's side window is up and has blood on it, which they say disputes Shelby's claim Crutcher reached into the vehicle before she fired.

​Aside from the dash cam footage showing Crutcher complying with the officers by having his hands in the air, video was also recorded from the helicopter up ahead where audio was released between the pilots of the chopper.

“He’s got his hands up there for her now,” one officer aboard the helicopter can be heard saying. “This guy is still walking and following commands.”

“Time for a Taser, I think,” a second officer in the helicopter can be heard saying.

“I got a feeling that’s about to happen,” said the first officer, identified by Mr. Wood as Officer Shelby’s husband, Dave Shelby.

“That looks like a bad dude, too,” the second officer said.

Moments later, Mr. Crutcher was shot and the helicopter camera was able to capture that footage. ​A womens voice can then be heard yelling "shots fired". 

Shelby has been charged with felony manslaughter and has pleaded not guilty to the murder of unarmed Terence Crutcher.