Slay-cop 'deaf' cry
Tulsa officer claim of hearing loss
An Oklahoma cop who fatally shot an unarmed black man two weeks ago pleaded not guilty to manslaughter Friday — a day after her attorney argued that she experienced stress-related temporary deafness during the shooting.
Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby, 42, uttered only “yes” to acknowledge her presence during her first court appearance as her attorney, Shannon McMurray, entered the plea on her behalf.
Shelby, who is white, is accused of acting unreasonably when she shot Terence Crutcher, 40, on Sept. 16 after coming across his vehicle abandoned in a street.
She told investigators that she feared for her life while yelling at him to drop to his knees.
Shelby’s other attorney, Scott Wood, argued a day earlier that the cop had been so hyper-focused during the confrontation that she experienced “auditory exclusion.”
“She didn’t hear the gunshot, didn’t hear the sirens coming up behind her just prior to the shot,” Wood said Thursday. “And it’s not only a common phenomenon described in literature, but it’s the No. 1 perceptual distortion by people I have represented who have been involved in shootings — diminished sound or complete auditory exclusion.”
Wood stressed that Shelby’s defense won’t be based only on the condition.
The chief investigator wrote in an affidavit that he believes Shelby “reacted unreasonably by escalating the situation from a confrontation with Mr. Crutcher, who was not responding to verbal commands and was walking away from her with his hands held up, becoming emotionally involved to the point that she overreacted.”
Wood has told the Tulsa World newspaper that Shelby, who is trained to be a drug-recognition expert, believed Crutcher was behaving like a person possibly under the influence of PCP.
Authorities have said a small vial of PCP was found in Crutcher’s vehicle, but whether he had any of the drug in his system won’t be known until a toxicology test is completed, the paper reported.