Jury acquits Tulsa cop in shooting of unarmed man

TULSA, Okla. — A jury on Wednesday acquitted a white Oklahoma police officer, who says she fired out of fear last year when she killed an unarmed black man with his hands held above his head, of first-degree manslaughter.

The family of Terence Crutcher burst into tears and reacted with outrage after jurors found Tulsa officer Betty Jo Shelby not guilty in the Sept. 16 shooting.

“Let it be known that I believe in my heart that Betty Shelby got away with murder,” Crutcher’s father, Rev. Joey Crutcher said after the verdict was announced.

A lawyer for Shelby said the officer was “elated” that the jury found her not guilty.

“She’s ready to get back to her life,” Defense Attorney Shannon McMurray said.

Shelby looked stone-faced when the verdict was read, but Crutcher’s family was quickly ushered out of the courtroom sobbing and wailing.

At least four of the 12 jurors were crying as they left the courtroom and did not look at either the family of Crutcher or Shelby. The juror comprised eight women and four men and included three African-Americans.

Demonstrators gathered outside the courtroom Wednesday evening in peaceful protest at the verdict. Marq Lewis, organizer of the local civil rights group We The People Oklahoma said the verdict was a blow to Tulsa’s black community.

Shelby said she fired her weapon out of fear because she said Crutcher didn’t obey her commands to lie on the ground and appeared to reach inside his SUV for what she thought was a gun. Crutcher was unarmed.

Crutcher was under the influence of PCP, a powerful hallucinogenic known as Angel Dust that makes users erratic, unpredictable and combative.