Oklahoma police officer charged with manslaughter of Terence Crutcher

Prosecutors have charged a police officer with first-degree manslaughter, after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last week.

Betty Shelby is accused of "unlawfully and unnecessarily" killing Terence Crutcher, 40, after he refused to comply with her orders. According to the charging affidavit, Crutcher was "mumbling to himself and would not answer any of officer Shelby's questions".

CNN reports that Shelby, a five-year veteran of the Tulsa police, was "afraid that he might be reaching for a weapon" before she opened fire, striking Crutcher in the right side of the chest.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Shelby also "believed Crutcher was under the influence of the synthetic drug PCP", says the BBC. Police found a vial of the drug in Crutcher's car after the shooting.

The shooting came four months after another Tulsa police officer was convicted of second-degree manslaughter following the death of unarmed black man Eric Harris.

Robert Bates, a 73-year-old reserve sheriff's deputy, "claimed he mistook his gun for his Taser when he opened fire", The Guardian reports. He was found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison.