Statement on Acquittal in Terrance Crutcher Shooting
I would like to address the recent acquittal in the Terrance Crutcher killing. The acquittal of manslaughter charges against Officer Betty Shelby for shooting and killing Terrance Crutcher, who was unarmed, in Tulsa, Oklahoma means that justice has not been achieved. Terrance Crutcher was black, and whether he was white, polka-dotted, or tye-dye, the use of this degree of lethal force is simply not justified under these circumstances for any human being. The more I read, the more I see of what a mess this trial was.
When Terrance Crutcher was shot and killed, the video evidence was so clear, people were shocked. Don’t take my word for it. Here’s President Trump’s reaction when he saw the video: “This young officer, I don’t know what she was thinking. I don’t know what she was thinking, but I’m very, very troubled by that. I’m very, very troubled by that. . . . Now, did she get scared? Was she choking? What happened? But maybe people like that, people that choke, people that do that, maybe they can’t be doing what they’re doing, okay? They can’t be doing what they’re doing. . . . I watched the shooting in particular in Tulsa. And that man was hands up. That man went to the car, hands up, put his hand on the car. I mean, to me, it looked like he did everything you’re supposed to do, and he looked like a really good man.”
The jury, which notably had three black jurors on it, seemed to be unable to work within the laws to reach a sensible verdict. This is part of their press release: “The Jury without knowledge of the guidelines learned through law enforcement training, believes that a Taser attempt to subdue Mr. Crutcher before he reached his vehicle could have saved his life and that potential scenario was seemingly an option available to her [Officer Shelby]; however, there was no evidence presented that her extensive training allowed such an option. The Jury could not, beyond a reasonable doubt, conclude that she did anything outside of her duties and training as a police officer in that situation. This was critical to the verdict rendered. Because of this perceived option that she may have had, many on the Jury could never get comfortable with the concept of Betty Shelby being blameless for Mr. Crutcher’s death, but due to the lack of direct or even circumstantial evidence that she was acting outside of her training in the 30 feet prior to Mr. Crutcher reaching the window of that SUV, the Jury was forced by the rule of law to render a not guilty verdict.”
I call your attention to the following line from the Jury: “there was no evidence presented that her extensive training allowed such an option.”
If you listen to the actual tape (from the helicopter), the officers talking all think she’s got a Taster out. The Officers in the helicopter say “He’s got his hands up there for her now.” “…not following commands. . . .Time for a Taser, I think. . .. I’ve got a feeling that’s what’s about to happen. . . . I think he may have just been Tasered. ..Oooooooh!”
So, if these officers thought a Taser made sense, why did Officer Shelby kill the man on the first try? Did those officers receive different training than she did?
Whether the prosecution did make points like these, didn’t think to, or chose not to, I don’t know.
The Crutcher family said time and time again that Terrance Crutcher was being put on trial for his own killing. “As a family member, we are very disturbed because it seems as though our family member has been put on trial,” Marcus Howard said.
And in the jury report we see this: “Terrance Crutcher had an arrest history and multiple outstanding arrest warrants. Guilt in previous incidents, were not considered as a means to justify Officer Shelby’s actions.” When the Jury goes out of its way to actually put a line in about this, you can bet it reached a high enough level of discussion in that room to do it. And once it’s widely talked about, it’s already in their heads. The first thing to know is that when Office Shelby gets out of her car, she has no idea who she is dealing with, so his past actions literally have no effect on her mental state in the moment. Second, it is a bedrock principle of evidence to avoid this character attacking. Think about it this way: if Jim steals from Rob. Jim cannot say, yes, but Rob is a bad guy as a defense. It’s a bit more complicated than this, but courts are supposed to go to extreme measures to prevent this thinking from happening.
Finally, the Jury notes the obvious: “The Jury under the confines of the law found Betty Shelby Not Guilty, yet we question her judgment as a law enforcement officer.”
The Jury goes on to say: “If she had any opportunity or flexibly of judgment to subdue the suspect with a less lethal force in the moment before the event culminated tragically, then her ability and judgment as an officer under pressure has to be called into question, and serious consideration given to whether she be allowed to return to practicing law enforcement.”
Anyone who watches this video can agree that there were at least other possible ways to have dealt with this incident other than using lethal force. That’s so beyond debate that it seems to me the trial was about whether Officer Shelby was properly trained in those ways.
Police officers have to be the best of the best because they are called into the most stressful situations and are at times required to use lethal force. You can see how unless you have a really qualified person in such a role, that line can be blurred and we can have more killings. A similar thinking is applied to surgeons in the ER or special forces in the military. Basically, because of the very terms of those job, practitioners have extra latitude to make life and death decisions. We expect there to be extremely rigorous training, and we expect those practitioners to be exceptionally talented and exceptionally cool under pressure.
If we have to design new laws specifically carved out to address killings like this, then so be it, because the legal system did not work here.
This is a tragic situation all around, and I doubt Officer Shelby got up in the morning and said, “I want to shoot an unarmed black man today.” However, this man was a human being, and he is now dead, his family is now devastated, and his death did not need to occur.
At absolute minimum, the Tulsa Police Department should put Officer Shelby in a position where she will never be able to shoot at an unarmed person again. There are many police officers that would have used the Taser instead of the gun, and those are the officers who should be patrolling the streets.
George Hayward
May 20, 2017