Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man who was shot and killed by a white police officer in Oklahoma last week, was not reaching into his car when the fatal shot was fired, a lawyer for his family said on Tuesday.
Graphic video of the fatal shooting on Friday was recorded from two angles by Tulsa Police Department cameras mounted on a police helicopter and a police car.
Speaking to reporters outside the Tulsa County Courthouse on Tuesday afternoon, Benjamin Crump, who is representing the dead man’s family, said that a streak of Crutcher’s blood on the glass, visible in a still image taken from the helicopter video, proved that the car window was closed when he was shot.
Crump accused a police department spokesperson, Officer Jeanne Mackenzie, of spreading “misinformation that he caused his own death” when she told reporters on Friday night that Crutcher had prompted the shooting by refusing to raise his hands and reaching into his vehicle.
How many times does this officer lie about the shooting of #TerenceCrutcher in less than 45 seconds? pic.twitter.com/SXq1ZdxhLQ
— Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) September 20, 2016
Finding that initial police account hard to believe, Crutcher’s family had demanded the release of unedited police footage of the incident. The department complied with that request on Monday.
David Riggs, a former state attorney general who chairs the Oklahoma Access to Justice Commission, also addressed a report that the police had found the hallucinogenic drug phencyclidine, or PCP, inside Crutcher’s car after the shooting. Riggs said that the shooting was not justified even if Crutcher was intoxicated. “Not everybody who’s under the influence of something is a threat to other people,” Riggs said.
Crump also noted, as many others did on social networks, that the killing of Crutcher stood in stark contrast to the capture of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect in the New York and New Jersey bombings, after a shoot-out with police officers there.
And…a man suspected of a BOMBING can be taken into custody alive…but a man who had CAR trouble has to die? #TerenceCruthcher
— Jay Jones (@jasonrjones) September 20, 2016
I see being black is worse than being a terrorist. #TerenceCruthcher
— NIR Wess (@wessnapalm) September 20, 2016
Video of Crutcher’s killing triggered outrage and despair from those viewing it online, and demands from protesters for the arrest of Officer Betty Shelby, who fired the fatal shot and has been placed on paid leave.
It doesn't matter where you live. We are all one bullet away from becoming a hashtag.. #TerenceCruthcher #BlackLivesMatter
— Jasmine ?????? (@___jasss_____) September 20, 2016
Black people should sue police departments for PTSD. This can't keep happening. #TerenceCrutcher
— Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously) September 19, 2016
If you're outraged at the protest Kaepernick started, but not outraged about the murder of #TerenceCrutcher, you are part of the problem.
— K'lyssa Moore (@klyssa) September 19, 2016
I will not be watching the #TerenceCrutcher video footage. I am tired of the sensationalization of lynching.
— Broderick (@BroderickGreer) September 20, 2016
Protesting the Tulsa Police shooting of #terencecrutcher in #tulsa. More at https://t.co/990ueGd8EC pic.twitter.com/aauXvnuCQV
— Mike Simons (@mikesimonsphoto) September 19, 2016
"If we cannot trust the people we are paying to police our streets, we have a problem" – #terencecrutcher protester pic.twitter.com/OuNDzPf6JF
— Kyle Hinchey (@KyleHinchey) September 19, 2016
https://twitter.com/STINGRAYdrienne/status/778225069680189441
A posthumous hashtag is a horrible way to learn of a human being's existence. #TerenceCrutcher
— Baratunde (@baratunde) September 20, 2016
There was particular anger at a comment made by the pilot of the police helicopter moments before Crutcher was shot by Officer Shelby. The pilot was recorded saying that the 40-year-old, who was walking slowly back to his car with his hands up at that moment, looked like “a bad dude” who “could be on something.”
the fact that #TerenceCruthcher was profiled as a bad "bad dude" by someone hundreds of feet in the air amazes me.
— Ken Walker (@TheKenFolk) September 20, 2016
https://twitter.com/robinthede/status/778009145438007296
If you're scared of an unarmed black man who's not doing anything, then don't be a cop. #TerenceCrutcher
— Jonathan Richard (@JonRichard) September 20, 2016
Crutcher’s sister Tiffany angrily rejected that assessment of her brother based solely on his appearance when the video was made public on Monday.
Many of those who watched the footage were also disturbed by the fact that it showed that the officers did not immediately offer medical assistance to Crutcher as he lay bleeding to death on the pavement.
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/777960452349321217
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