Lawyers for slain Tulsa man: Drug discussion a distraction

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Investigators found the drug PCP in the vehicle of an unarmed black man fatally shot by a white officer, according to Oklahoma police, but attorneys for the slain man's family say a discussion of drugs distracts from questions about the use of deadly force.

Tulsa Sgt. Dave Walker told the Tulsa World on Tuesday that investigators recovered one vial of PCP in Terence Crutcher's SUV, but he declined to say where in the vehicle it was found or whether officers determined if Crutcher used it Friday night. Walker confirmed to The Associated Press that what he told the newspaper was true, but declined further comment.

A spokeswoman for the state medical examiner's office said autopsy and toxicology results for Crutcher are pending, and police said Tuesday the toxicology report could take several weeks.

Attorneys for Crutcher's family said the man's relatives did not know whether drugs were found in his vehicle and, even if they were, that wouldn't justify his fatal shooting.

"Let us not be throwing a red herring, and to say because something was found in the car that was justification to shoot him," said attorney Benjamin Crump, one of the family's lawyers.

Crump compared Crutcher's shooting to Monday's arrest of New York bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, who police say engaged officers in a shootout.

"He wasn't killed. So why was an unarmed black man who has committed no crime, who only needs a hand, given bullets in his lungs?" Crump said.

Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby fatally shot the 40-year-old on Friday after responding to a report of a stalled vehicle. Sgt. Shane Tuell said Tuesday that Shelby had a stun gun at the time but did not use it. Officer Tyler Turnbough, who is also white, used a stun gun on Crutcher, police said.

Two 911 calls described an SUV that had been abandoned in the middle of the road. One unidentified caller said the driver was acting strangely, adding, "I think he's smoking something."

PCP or phencyclidine, also called angel dust, can cause slurred speech, loss of coordination and a sense of strength or invulnerability, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. At high doses, it can cause hallucinations and paranoia.

Oklahoma prison officials confirmed Tuesday that Crutcher served four years in prison on a drug conviction from 2007 to 2011.

But Damario SolomonSimmons, another attorney for Crutcher's family, said Shelby and other officers had no way of knowing about Crutcher's background or the potential for drugs in his vehicle when they approached him Friday.

"It's undisputed that the officers on the scene had no idea what may be in Terence's car," SolomonSimmons said. "At that particular moment that he was shot, he was not a suspect for any crime. Period."