Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Sister of black man killed by police says he was unarmed
TULSA, Okla. — The sister of a black man shot and killed by a Tulsa police officer when he reached into an SUV stalled in the street said Saturday that she does not believe her brother was armed.
Terrence Crutcher, 40, died at the hospital where he was taken after he was shot by the officer around 8 p.m. Friday, police said.
“One fact I do know is that my brother was unarmed,” Terrence Crutcher’s twin sister Tiffany Crutcher told a news conference Saturday. “I’m just devastated.”
MacKenzie declined to say Saturday whether a weapon was found and said the items recovered will not be revealed until a news conference Monday by Police Chief Chuck Jordan.
An attorney for the Crutcher family, Damario Solomon-Simmons, called Saturday for police to release any video of the shooting. Police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie said she believes the officers’ dash cameras might have captured video of the shooting. Tulsa police officers don’t have body cameras, although they were selected to receive a nearly $600,000 cash-match grant for them in 2015.
Solomon-Simmons told reporters that Crutcher was in the area because his car stalled and officers saw him while on an unrelated call and approached.
“From that point, I do not know what occurred. We have no idea, and that’s what is so difficult for us and the family,” Solomon-Simmons said. “That’s our job, to try to get answers for this family as they’re mourning.”
MacKenzie said an officer responding to another call saw the vehicle in the middle of the road and called for backup, and the two officers were walking toward the SUV when Crutcher approached them from the side of the road.
“He refused to follow commands given by the officers,” MacKenzie said. “They continued to talk to him, he continued not to listen and follow any commands.”