Attorney: Officer who shot Terence Crutcher had 'auditory exclusion,' didn't hear other officer say he had Taser readyBy Corey Jones and Samantha Vicent
Tulsa World
Updated: 9:24 am, Thu Sep 29, 2016.
Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby turned herself in overnight on a first-degree manslaughter charge in the Terence Crutcher killing. She posted $50,000 bond and was released 20 minutes later.
The probable cause affidavit for her arrest states that another officer told Shelby he had a Taser ready to deploy before she shot Crutcher, who was unarmed, on Sept. 16. But her attorney told the Tulsa World on Friday that she never heard that comment, also not realizing other officers had arrived and were standing with her.
Scott Wood, who represents Shelby, said she experienced “auditory exclusion.” Wood described it as a phenomenon officers often experience in critical incidents that results in a temporary loss of hearing.
Because of that, Wood said, Shelby didn’t hear other officers arrive with their cars’ sirens activated or approach her. Nor did she hear Officer Tyler Turnbough tell her that he had his Taser ready because she was “totally focused” on Crutcher, he said.
“She doesn’t have any recollection of that at all,” Wood said.
Crutcher, a black man, was fatally shot by Shelby, who is white, on a north Tulsa street moments after he walked slowly to his parked SUV with his hands raised.
Whether he lowered his left hand to reach through the window — prompting the fatal shot — is in dispute, but the 40-year-old was found to be unarmed and had no weapons inside the vehicle.
Shelby, 42, surrendered with a lawyer at the Tulsa Jail at 1:11 a.m. Friday, according to her arrest report. She was booked and then posted bond.
First-degree manslaughter carries a penalty of four years to life in prison.
A Tulsa County guideline on bail amounts for criminal offenses indicates that $50,000 is the recommended sum for first-degree manslaughter. It doubles to $100,000 if the defendant already has a felony conviction. The recommended amount is $25,000 for second-degree manslaughter.
Judges have discretion to adjust bail on a case-by-case basis.
Shelby is the second officer charged in Tulsa County within the last year and a half in connection with the shooting death of an unarmed black man while on duty.
The other, former Tulsa County Reserve Deputy Robert Bates, was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the April 2015 death of Eric Harris. Bail for Bates was set at $25,000.
Bates was convicted in April of this year and is serving a four-year prison sentence, the maximum allowed under state law.
Defense attorney: Gun, not Taser, ‘appropriate’ response
The probable cause affidavit in Shelby’s case notes that the first backup officer to arrive took a position on Shelby’s left and told her that he had his Taser ready to use.
“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,” according to the affidavit.
Wood countered by saying the situation escalated because Crutcher repeatedly failed to comply and kept reaching toward his left front pocket as if he had a gun there. Shelby pulled her handgun instead of her Taser because she felt he might be armed and was exhibiting signs of being on PCP.
“If you think someone has a gun, you don’t get your Taser out,” Wood said, calling Shelby’s response “appropriate.”
The affidavit indicates that Shelby told detectives she was “in fear for her life” and shot Crutcher after he reached through the SUV’s window. It states that police helicopter video footage shows Crutcher’s right hand in the air when he was shot but that his left hand is “unobservable” in the video as he stands next to the driver’s side window.
‘Terence was not a threat’
Attorneys for the Crutcher family have contended that the window was up. But whether it was up or down is irrelevant, they argue, because Shelby knew there wasn’t a weapon in the driver’s seat. They point to the affidavit, which states that she had “cleared” — or checked — the “driver’s side front” before Crutcher first approached her.
“The video … clearly showed that Terence Crutcher did not have a weapon, that Terence was not belligerent, that Terence had his hands up, that Terence was not a threat,” said attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons. “When we saw that video, we knew there was no reason for Terence to be shot down in the street.”
The Crutcher family’s attorneys contend that it’s “readily apparent” that Shelby should have been charged. A reporter asked them on Thursday whether Crutcher bore any of the blame for the escalation of his encounter with Shelby because he didn’t comply with her demands.
“The police encounter people every day who fail to comply with instruction, whether it’s a DUI or a public intoxication or any situation,” attorney Melvin Hall said. “The law does not authorize the use of lethal force merely because someone fails to comply.”
The Tulsa World has requested use-of-force reports from Shelby’s four-plus years with the Tulsa Police Department. The department has denied the request, with a spokesman saying the agency’s general counsel has said those records are released only if there is disciplinary action.
Crutcher case moving swiftly
Wood said he was “a little bit surprised” by how quickly the manslaughter charge was filed, especially since the police investigative report wasn’t yet completed. Prosecutors will find it difficult to “prove what they need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.
“If you believed the scenario where he wasn’t posing any danger and she had no reason to believe he had a gun or was getting access to a gun, I guess that would be the appropriate charge here,” Wood said.
District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said Friday his charging decision was based on information from the Tulsa Police Department Homicide Unit and an affidavit from an investigator in his office.
Kunzweiler said lead homicide Sgt. Dave Walker made a “big effort” to provide documents daily as they were completed, rather than turn all of them over at the investigation’s conclusion. Police didn’t say Friday whether the probe was finished but previously projected that they would be done by 5 p.m. Friday.
“In extraordinary circumstances, we all work double duty, so to speak, because we understand the dynamics,” Kunzweiler said. “We recognized (the high-profile nature) and realized this was one we needed to get to work on as quickly as we can.”
Police release Shelby’s commendations
The Police Department provided records to the Tulsa World on Friday indicating that Shelby received two commendations while working in the Riverside Division.
Shelby was hired in December 2011 and graduated from the Tulsa Police Academy in June 2012. She patrolled west Tulsa for the Riverside Division before being reassigned in August 2015 to patrol the northernmost parts of Tulsa for the Gilcrease Division.
One commendation states that Shelby and two other officers saved an elderly woman’s life when discovering she was immobile in her home in February 2014. Shelby and the other officers responded to check on the woman’s well-being after the Meals on Wheels organization reported that it was unable to contact her, according to a letter filed by a supervisor.
They found that the woman hadn’t been able to get up for two days, and EMSA medics said she would have died if police hadn’t found her.
The other commendation stemmed from Shelby’s work in helping arrest two men on robbery complaints in January 2015. The Robbery Unit supervisor wrote that Shelby helped identify one of the suspects, for whom an arrest warrant had been issued for a probation violation, as a suspect in a series of robberies in Tulsa and Jenks.
The Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training told the Tulsa World following an Open Records Act request that Shelby is a peace officer in good standing. She doesn’t have any final agency orders of discipline in her file or pending, CLEET reported.
Both sides create benefit funds
Crutcher’s family established a fund on Wednesday to benefit his four children. As of Friday evening, more than 5,700 donations totaling nearly $160,000 had been made to the fund, which has a goal of $200,000.
Patrick Stephens, president of the Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93, on Friday created an ”I Stand With Betty Shelby” fund for “upcoming expenses.” It had received more than $3,000 from 50 donors as of Friday evening, with a goal of $250,000. Shelby has been a member of the FOP lodge for five years.
Stephens told the World he wanted to give officers “an outlet” to help Shelby, who is now on administrative leave without pay.
“Her family needs help. People were reaching out for ways to support her and help her through those times, and that’s what I did,” he said.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/attorney-officer-who-shot-terence-crutcher-had-auditory-exclusion-didn/article_67cfee72-01ce-547c-a2e2-a74ce2414b13.html
