ANOTHER POLICE SHOOTING OF A BLACK MAN !!!!!

The ACLU of Oklahoma on Tuesday demanded that criminal charges be filed against Tulsa police officers whose fatal shooting of an unarmed black man last week was caught on video.

But the lawyer for Officer Betty Shelby claims Terence Crutcher repeatedly ignored his client’s commands and behaved like a person under the influence of PCP.

Ryan Kiesel, executive director of ACLU of Oklahoma, accused Tulsa police of shirking their “legal and moral obligation” by failing to render aid to Crutcher, 40, immediately after the shooting.

“A Tulsa Police officer murdered Terence Crutcher in cold blood,” Kiesel said. “Each of the officers present were complicit in the unconscionable, reprehensible and disgusting killing of this unarmed, defenseless man.”

Brady Henderson, legal director for the group, said the videos prove the Tulsa Police Department’s initial claim that Crutcher refused to put his hands in the air was false. He said the videos clearly show Crutcher posed no threat to officers.

“Putting Terence’s killer and her companions behind bars won’t bring Terrence back, but it is a necessary part of repairing the broken bond between police and communities of color, a rift that continues to claim lives,” Henderson said.

Attorney Scott Wood, however, told the Tulsa World that the confrontation Friday had been underway for almost 2 minutes before video from a police helicopter and other officers’ dashcams began to roll. The graphic video, released by police this week, shows Crutcher walking toward his SUV with his hands up and his back to multiple officers.

Crutcher appears to place his hands on his vehicle when he falls to the ground, shocked with a stun gun by one officer and shot by Shelby. In the video, no one immediately attempts to help provide aid to the fallen man.

Wood said no one was around when Shelby pulled up to find an SUV straddling the center line with its engine running and doors open. Wood, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY, told World that Crutcher reached toward or into his pockets several times despite Shelby ordering him not to do so.

Wood said Shelby completed drug-recognition expert training and believed Crutcher was acting like a person who might be under the influence of PCP.

Wood said Crutcher looked at Shelby and reached with his hand into the car window. Officer Turnbough fired his stun gun at the same time Shelby fired her gun because both officers perceived Crutcher’s actions as a threat, Wood said.

Shelby, a five-year veteran of the police force, was placed on paid administrative leave. Her husband was in the police helicopter that recorded the shooting.

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the shooting.

Crutcher’s twin sister, Tiffany Crutcher, said the family wants criminal charges filed against Shelby.

“We ask for facts, we ask for answers, and we clearly got it through the video and we are devastated,” she said. “The entire family is devastated.”

Source: USA Today