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GREENWOOD Dist. – The officer who fatally shot Black Tulsa resident Terence Crutcher will not face retribution for the 2016 slaying. A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit filed by Crutcher’s estate against Officer Betty Shelby and the City of Tulsa on Monday.
On September 16, 2016, 40-year-old Terence Crutcher was experiencing car troubles on a Tulsa street. Former Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby was responding to a domestic disturbance call when she found Crutcher’s car stalled in the roadway on 36th Street and Lewis Avenue in North Tulsa, a predominately Black neighborhood.
Crutcher was approaching the vehicle when Shelby shouted orders at him to show his hands. Shortly after the incident began, a second officer, Tyler Turnbough, arrived on the scene and drew his taser gun. As Crutcher walked towards the driver’s side window of his car with his hands raised, both officers fired at him. The second officer only used his taser while Shelby used her gun, and her shots ultimately killed Crutcher.
Shelby suspected that Crutcher was reaching for a gun. Officers later discovered that Crutcher was unarmed. Right before she fired her weapon, several other police officers arrived behind her.
Per protocol, the Tulsa Police Department placed Shelby on paid administrative leave.
As the news of Crutcher’s death spread among the Tulsa community, hundreds gathered to protest peacefully. Concerned citizens were calling for the arrest of Officer Betty Shelby.
Tulsa’s History of Police Violence
A year earlier, Tulsans took to the streets to demand justice for Eric Harris, another Black man who was shot and killed by a volunteer sheriff’s deputy. The deputy, Robert Bates, mistakenly pulled his firearm instead of his stun gun, which resulted in Harris’ death. In bodycam footage, Harris can be heard saying, “He shot me.” To this, another officer replies, telling him to “shut up.”
A jury found Bates guilty of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced him to four years. However, he only served 16 months behind bars.
The Harris family pursued a civil rights lawsuit against Bates and the Sheriff’s Department. After Harris’ death it was found that Bates was a crony of the then Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz. Bates was a big-dollar donor to Glanz’s reelection efforts. The closeness of the two allowed Bates to move through the department without adequate training. Investigators found that department staff had falsified Bates’ training records.
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After Harris’ death, Glanz resigned following his indictment on misdemeanor charges relating to the killing. One of the charges stemmed from Glanz’s refusal to provide documents needed for the internal investigation. A judge awarded Harris’ estate $6 million from the Tulsa Sheriff’s Department.
Trials of Officer Betty Shelby
The trials and lawsuits brought against Shelby took a different route than the events surrounding Eric Harris’ slaying.
A jury acquitted Shelby of manslaughter charges in May 2017. The jury determined that Shelby’s use of deadly force was justifiable because Crutcher did not follow verbal orders. Once the trial concluded, she resigned from TPD and picked up a job with the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office.
In 2019, the US Justice Department decided not to pursue federal civil rights charges against Shelby. The DOJ says they did not find sufficient evidence to suggest that she willfully used unreasonable force against Crutcher.
In another justice-seeking effort, the Crutcher family filed a civil suit against Shelby and the City of Tulsa. The memorandum filed in federal district court deals with the subject of qualified immunity.
On Monday, District Judge Eric Melgren dismissed the civil lawsuit, saying Crutcher’s estate could not make a compelling argument against the use of qualified immunity. The estate does have the option of seeking an appeal. However, Shelby’s attorney, Scott Woods, told KOSU that he does not believe an appeal attempt would be “fruitful.”
Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, sister of the late Terence, shared her sentiments in an Instagram post. “Our fight for a better Tulsa has been non-stop – and it will not stop until this system of hate and oppression is washed away and replaced with a system built in love and liberation.” Dr. Crutcher continues, “We will continue to keep you updated on the next steps in our pursuit to create safe, just, and liberated communities free from violence and harm. It’s not over.”