Jurors expected to hear audio from Oklahoma police shooting
The Associated Press - April 15, 2017 9:58 am
This photo provided by the Parks & Crump, LLC shows Terence Crutcher, left, with his father, Joey Crutcher. Crutcher, an unarmed black man was killed by a white Oklahoma officer Friday, Sept. 16, 2016, who was responding to a stalled vehicle. (Courtesy of Crutcher Family/Parks & Crump, LLC via AP)
Jurors expected to hear audio from Oklahoma police shooting
TULSA, Okla. (AP) – A judge will allow audio evidence during a manslaughter trial for an Oklahoma police officer accused of fatally shooting Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man.
Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby is charged with first-degree manslaughter in the Sept. 16 death of Terence Crutcher. Shelby has pleaded not guilty.
The Tulsa World reports the audio recorded an officer who was watching Shelby’s interaction with Crutcher from a helicopter. The officer can be heard saying Crutcher “looks like a bad dude.”
The officers on the scene were white, and Crutcher’s family says the comment proves racial bias. Shelby’s attorney says the audio is inflammatory.
Shelby has said she used lethal force because she feared Crutcher was reaching inside his SUV for a gun. Her trial is scheduled to begin May 8.
Image: Denver Post