Medical Examiner Calls Tulsa Police Shooting a Homicide

But what actually transpired on the Tulsa street between Terence Crutcher and officer Betty Shelby remains murky.

Betty Shelby, 42 years old, was booked and released after posting $50,000 bond, the Associated Press reported. Shelby was charged with first degree felony manslaughter after the shooting death of Terence Crutcher.

The shooting took place last Friday after Crutcher’s SUV broke down. “We remain optimistic that the State Attorney will now do his job, and vigorously prosecute the officer to the fullest extent of the law, bringing some form of justice to the Crutcher family”. “She said the other day in her interview with homicide detectives, ‘I was never so scared in my life as in that moment right then'”. Wood said he expects an arraignment date to be set in the next seven to 10 days.

Police videos show Crutcher walking towards his vehicle with his hands raised before he was shot.

Shelby’s attorney, Scott Wood, said Friday that Shelby is trained in “de-escalation” and that she had been selected to train new officers at the Tulsa Police Department.

Filings in the case give a glimpse of the arguments prosecutors could make eventually in court.

Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett said police worked quickly to provide Kunzweiler with the information he needed to decide whether to charge the officer.

If convicted, Shelby faces between four years and life in prison.

Experts say that a determination of “homicide” as a manner of death simply means that a human caused the death of another.

But not all the responses have been negative, he said.

WHAT THE OFFICER’S ATTORNEY HAS SAIDShelby’s attorney, Scott Wood, has told the Tulsa World the situation unfolded for almost two minutes before the police footage started.

A Republican congressman who represents the Charlotte area said Thursday that people are protesting in the city because they “hate white people”.

Mr Crutcher’s twin sister Tiffany Crutcher said the family was pleased criminal charges were filed and called for a vigorous prosecution that would lead to a conviction.

“The chain breaks here”, Crutcher vowed. “We’re going to break the chains of police brutality”, she added. Investigators reportedly found a vial of PCP in Crutcher’s SUV.

Shelby’s attorney says Crutcher was acting strangely when she approached him, and Shelby thought he might be reaching for a weapon in his auto.

It all started after a 911 call last Friday from a woman who said an abandoned auto was blocking the street and a man was running away. One of the officers in a helicopter said: “That looks like a bad dude, too”. Shelby, en route to a domestic violence call, encounters the abandoned vehicle and eventually radios into dispatch, “Hold traffic”.

No dashcam footage exists from Shelby’s auto because she didn’t activate her emergency lights – which in turn switches on the camera – when she came upon the abandoned vehicle in the roadway.

Crutcher kept putting his hands in his pockets and taking them out and then walked toward his vehicle with his hands up, according to the document.

According to an arrest affidavit, Shelby escalated the situation and over-reacted. In the video, Crutcher can be seen with his hands raised above his head prior to his death. He walks away from Shelby toward his vehicle.