Tulsa Police Releases Footage of Terence Crutcher's Death
The events that led up to the death of Terence Crutcher are now a little clearer after Tulsa Police released graphic footage of the officer-involved shooting.
Crutcher, a black man, made headlines last week when he was fatally shot by a white police officer, Betty Shelby, after officers responded to reports of a stalled vehicle. Police Chief Chuck Jordan said at a press conference on Monday, Sept. 19 that no weapon was recovered from the scene of the shooting, but did not offer up many other details.
After the press conference, the Tulsa Police Department released 911 audio, helicopter aerial footage and dash cam video of the confrontation. [WARNING: The below video contains graphic material.]
Tulsa dispatchers received two different 911 calls about Crutcher’s stalled car. The first from a woman informing police, “Someone left their car running in the middle of the street with the doors wide open.” The woman also explained to police that, “the guy was running from [the vehicle]” because he was afraid it might “blow up.”
Shelby was responding to a domestic call when she arrived on the scene. She told the dispatcher that “she’s not having cooperation,” from Crutcher, according to Chief Jordan. When Shelby arrived, Crutcher was on the side of the road, away from his vehicle. When she pulled up, he approached her vehicle.
Police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie said Crutcher then failed to follow repeated commands from the officers who arrived on scene. The video shows Crutcher with his hands above his head. He walks, with his back to the officers, towards his vehicle and stands with the front of his body towards the silver SUV. Officers say they saw Crutcher then reached into the driver’s side window. One police officer used his stun gun, and another discharged her weapon, shooting and killing Crutcher.
Audio from the scene shows that the female officer yelled out, “Shots fired!” but did not determine who discharged a weapon.
The Justice Department said today that it has opened up a civil rights probe into the shooting, after the Tulsa police chief contacted the agency over the weekend to help with the investigation.