Tulsa cop is back on the police force
Jurors who acquitted her in man’s shooting death said she should not be a patrol officer.
TULSA, Okla. — A white Oklahoma police officer acquitted in an unarmed black man’s shooting death will be back on the force this week, though jurors who declared her not guilty of manslaughter unanimously agreed she should never return to patrol.
Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan issued a statement Friday saying that Betty Jo Shelby had been reinstated. It came a day after black community leaders rallied, urging city leaders to block the 43-year-old officer from getting back her job. She had been on unpaid leave since Sept. 22, when she was charged in the death of Terence Crutcher, 40.
Many were taken aback by her quick reinstatement.
“The decision today was obviously a slap in the face, and I think that’s how a lot of the black community feels,” said Anthony Scott, pastor at First Baptist Church North Tulsa.
Shelby’s attorneys said she would rejoin the force Monday, but in a limited capacity. The 10-year law enforcement veteran is barred from street patrol while an internal affairs investigation into Crutcher’s Sept. 16 shooting death plays out.
Shortly before the announcement of Shelby’s reinstatement, the foreman of the jury that acquitted her Wednesday said in a court filing that if Shelby had thought to use her stun gun before Crutcher reached his stalled sport utility vehicle, the decision “could have saved his life.”
“Many on the jury could never get comfortable with the concept of Betty Shelby being blameless for Mr. Crutcher’s death,” the foreman wrote.
Another member of the jury told the Frontier, a local news site, that various jurors thought Shelby could work a desk job or perhaps be another type of emergency responder — just not an officer on street patrol.
“I don’t think she’s a bad person,” he told the publication, speaking on condition of anonymity because jurors didn’t want to be associated with the highly charged case. “She just shouldn’t be a cop.”
The jury of eight women and four men, three of whom are black, deliberated for about nine hours before reaching its verdict Wednesday, prompting about 100 residents gathered outside the courthouse to protest the outcome.
A spokesman for the Crutcher family didn’t return calls seeking comment on Shelby’s reinstatement.