Tulsa Police have released dashboard camera video showing the fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher , an unarmed black man, by Officer Betty Shelby.
The Tulsa Police Department released several videos from the shooting. One of the videos shows the scene of the shooting from a police helicopter. In the video, one of the helicopter pilots says, Crutcher, “looks like a bad dude too … might be on something,” moments before he was shot. You can watch that video above. Other videos, recorded on dashboard cameras, can be found further into this story. The officers were not wearing body cameras.
Crutcher’s sister, who along with other family members and their attorneys called for murder charges in the case, mentioned the “bad dude” comment during a press conference Monday, saying his life mattered.
“We are truly devastated, the entire family is devastated,” said Tiffany Crutcher, Terence’s twin sister. “You all want to know who that big bad dude was? That big bad dude was my twin brother. That big bad dude was a father. That big bad dude was a son. That big bad dude was enrolled at Tulsa Community College. … That big bad dude loved God. That big bad dude was at church singing with all his flaws every week. That big bad dude, that’s who he was.”
Three days after the video was released, the district attorney announced Shelby would face first-degree manslaughter charge. You can read more about that here.
Terence Crutcher’s twin sister, Tiffany speaks about her brother’s death. Says That “big bad dudes” life mattered. @KJRH2HD
The 40-year-old Tulsa man was shot on September 16 in the Oklahoma city after his SUV broke down.
Terence Crutcher, right, was fatally shot by Officer Betty Shelby, left.
“The video is very disturbing. It’s very difficult to watch,” Police Chief Chuck Jordan said at a press conference. He and several officials said Monday that “justice” will be found, and there will be no cover-up of what happened. Jordan and others said they could not comment extensively on the shooting or the video, citing the open case.
Police Chief Chuck Jordan said Shelby was on the way to another call when she encountered Crutcher and his vehicle. Jordan, who said he is unable to release many details because of open investigation, said Shelby requested backup because she was “not having cooperation” from Crutcher.
The dashcam video shows Crutcher walking toward his SUV with his arms held in the air, as Shelby follows behind him with her gun drawn and a second officer approaches with his Taser drawn. He has his back to her and the other officer. Crutcher appears to lean toward the SUV with Shelby at his side and the other officer behind him. A single shot can then be heard and other officers run toward the SUV.
Crutcher then collapses to the ground and Shelby yells into the radio, “Shots fired!”
You can watch the video below or by clicking here if the player does not load. The shooting occurs about the 1:40 mark of the video:
Another dashcam video shows the scene from another angle, but the officer arrived after Crutcher was already shot:
A third dashcam video also shows the scene after the shooting:
Police also released audio recordings of the police dispatch conversations:
Audio recordings from citizens’ 911 calls were also made public:
Tulsa Police said the shooting occurred near 36th Street and Lewis Avenue about 7:30 p.m., KOTV reports.
Crutcher’s SUV had stalled in the middle of the road, and police arrived to check on the situation, according to the news station.
“As they approached the vehicle a black male started towards them,” Tulsa Police spokesperson Jeanne Mackenzie told KOTV. “They asked him to show his hands. He refused to follow commands given by the officers. They continued to talk to him. He continued not to listen, not follow any commands as they got closer to the vehicle he reached inside the vehicle and at that time there was a Taser deployment and then a short time later there was one shot fired.”
The officer who deployed his Taser was named as Tyler Turnbough.
While police say Crutcher refused to raise his hands when told to do so by police, a pastor who watched the dash camera video says Crutcher had his hands “in the air,” before he was shot, the Tulsa World reports.
Pastor Rodney Goss, of the Morning Star Baptist Church, also said the video does not show Crutcher reaching into his vehicle. He said Crutcher was walking toward it.
“His hands were in the air from all views,” Goss told the Tulsa World. “It was not apparent at any angle from any point that he lunged, came toward, aggressively attacked, or made any sudden movements that would have been considered a threat or life-threatening toward the officer.”
Goss added that he did not see a weapon. In the video, one officer can be seen deploying his Taser and the other officer then fires her gun.
“It wasn’t a matter of minutes, it was a matter of moments,” Goss told the newspaper. “As quick as the officer released the Taser from his hand, Terence was falling to the ground having already been shot.”
Goss said it took several moments before anyone checked on Crutcher.
“After having been shot, a couple minutes it appears, but it seemed like a lifetime, went by before anyone actually checked with him as far as pulse — as far as whatever the case may be,” Goss said.
He also expressed concerns about audio recorded after the shooting, in which a man in a police helicopter is heard saying Crutcher looked like “one bad dude,” the newspaper reports.
Police said they wanted to show the video to the family and community leaders first.
“We wanted them to see it before it was released so they wouldn’t be blindsided by it,” Tulsa Police Sergeant Shane Tuell said. “We wanted to be able to have that intimate time with them, with their attorney, to see if they had any questions or concerns.”
You can watch the police press conference about the video below:
Shelby, 42, was hired by the Tulsa Police Department in 2011 after working for the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office from June 2007 to November 2011, according to KOKI-TV. She resigned from her position as a deputy to join the Tulsa department.
A police spokesman told the Tulsa World that Shelby’s husband, who is also a Tulsa police officer, was in the helicopter at the time of the shooting “by happenstance.”
It was not her husband that made the comment about Crutcher being a “bad dude.” The other officer in the helicopter hasn’t been identified.
Betty Shelby has been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. The Tulsa Police homicide division is leading the investigation and the county attorney will make a decision on whether the shooting was justified.
The U.S. Justice Department has launched a parallel civil rights investigation into the shooting that could also lead to charges.
She gave a statement to homicide detectives on Monday, the New York Times reports.
Her attorney, Scott Wood, told the Times that Shelby thought Crutcher had a weapon. He also said Crutcher “had acted erratically, refused to comply with several orders, tried to put his hand in his pocket and reached inside his car window before he was shot.”
Wood told the Tulsa World the incident began about two minutes before the dashcam video started. Shelby was the first officer on the scene, coming upon Crutcher’s broken down SUV, and called for backup. Her dashcam did not record video, according to police. The video begins when backup arrives.
Wood told the newspaper Crutcher was not with his SUV when she arrived, “so she isn’t really sure what’s going on.”
The attorney told the Tulsa World that Crutcher ignored the officer’s commands several times and didn’t answer her questions and reached for his pockets several times despite Shelby telling him not to.
Wood said that Shelby, based on drug-recognition training, believed Crutcher was acting erratically because he was under the influence of PCP.
Tulsa Police told KOKI-TV that a vial of PCP was found in Crutcher’s SUV after the shooting. Autopsy and toxicology results have not yet been released.
Attorneys for Crutcher’s family have said the PCP is not a justification for the shooting. They also argue that Crutcher could not have been reaching into his SUV, because the window was closed.
Wood said Shelby fired her gun at the same time as the other officer deployed his Taser, because they both perceived a threat.
“He has his hands up and is facing the car and looks at Shelby, and his left hand goes through the car window, and that’s when she fired her shot,” Wood said.
Crutcher was the father of four children, the Washington Post reports. His family says his SUV stalled as he headed home from class at Tulsa Community College, where he had been studying music appreciation.
Crutcher was also involved in his church, including singing in the choir, according to the Tulsa World.
His pastor, Terry Shannon, told the newspaper it was a “blessing and a joy” to be Cructher’s pastor, saying he attended the church “faithfully” with his family for years.
“He sang in the choir,” Terry Shannon said. “He had a beautiful voice.”
