Updates at the Bottom (jump)
The narrative is that a pastor’s vehicle broke down and police shot him with his hand’s up. The multiple videos I have seen on this show this narrative to be otherwise. Here is the short video of the encounter:
(Side-Note: from 13-sec-to-23-sec, you can see the window is down and it even looks like Crutcher is reaching inside the vehicle — or at least having his hand down by his waist.)
First, let us look at the original 911 call:
Dispatch: What’s the address of your emergency.
Caller: Uhh it’s south of, uhh, 36th street and Lewis.
Dispatch: Alright. Is it on Lewis or is it on 36th?
Caller: Uhh, no. It’s actually an abandoned vehicle. Somebody left their vehicle running in the middle of the street. The door is wide open.
[….]
Dispatch: OK. It’s a tan(vehicle). And there’s nobody around it?
Caller: There was a guy running from it. He, like ‘somebody was going to blow up.’ I think he’s smoking something.
Dispatch: Ohh (laughing).
Caller: I was rude to him too because I got out and was like, ‘do you need help’? And he was like, ‘come here, come here.’ I said ‘well, what’s going on’ and he’s like, ‘come here come here. I think it’s going to blow up.’ I’m like, ‘nah I’m out.’
Dispatch: OK.
Caller: He started freaking out and he took off running.
Dispatch: Oh, wow.
Caller: Yeah, I think he’s smoking something.
Dispatch: Okay, a vehicle is running in the middle of 36th Street.
A few things to surmise from this.
While the first mention of “smoking something” could have been made in jest, the second instance the caller relayed important information to the dispatcher. Very possibly this person was intoxicated on some kind of drug.
The second thing I surmised from the 911 call is that this person was a threat to civilians in his approaching a citizen talking crazy.
The third thing I surmised from the call is that the vehicle was not broke down but still running. Which makes the police response even more weary in that when a vehicle breaks down it usually stops running or is turned off and hazard lights turned on.
The full video of the second cruiser to show up can be found here. From this video a few things can be surmised.
The first being is that Terence Crutcher (the suspect who was shot) was already asked by a female officer what the issue was, and when she surmised the situation was out of her control and needed back-up, she called for it.
He was too big for her to handle, and she probably surmised he was high on something and so her physically engaging him was off the table. Why? Because she did not know if (a) he was armed with a weapon, and (b) he could easily take her weapon away in a physical confrontation.
As Terence was walking away he ignored repeated commands to stop… this is when the second unit showed up.
Other officers joined in the warnings as Terence continued to walk towards his vehicle.
Combining visual evidence from the two videos more things can be surmised that dissuade one from believing the narrative. And one should keep in mind this was a rural area with homes nearby… so allowing a suspect with what is known so far to reenter a vehicle to either turn it into a weapon that could kill civilians (children playing in the street in one of the side-streets); or retrieving a weapon to then use on the officers responding to the call. Here is an excellent article by BEARING ARMS (h-t to Kathleen P.) entitled, “Why Cops Don’t Let Suspects Return To Their Vehicles: The Murder of Kyle Dinkheller“
There are many outraged people complaining that Tulsa Police Department officer Betty Shelby “murdered” Terence Crutcher for refusing to follow lawful police commands, returning to his vehicle, and allegedly lowering his hands to reach inside it. They cannot fathom why an officer would feel threatened by a non-compliant suspect who returned to his or her vehicle and reaches inside. That probably because they are probably unaware of one of the most infamous police shootings death of the past 20 years, where a Georgia Sheriff’s deputy gave a suspect pulled over for a simple speeding ticket every opportunity to surrender peacefully… too many opportunities, in fact. Watch, and learn. …continuing… Okay, the videos: One point is that when he was tazzed his hands were going towards his waist to retrieve key, a weapon, or open the door. In the police officers mind all could lead to a weapon (vehicle or gun). He continued to ignore commands up to this point. The original officer that responded to the call shot a single time to stop the suspect from entering the vehicle. Other news related to the incident was that PCP was found in the vehicle supporting the 911 callers description and the idea that such large man could not feel pain and even with multiple officers could give a hell-of-a-fight and possibly wrestle away one of their weapons. One should note as well that any police officer would not engage in a physical manner because the assumption is that he is armed… remember, they didn’t know if he was or wasn’t. BEARING ARMS has an excellent post showing his arms were not up. He had clearly, at the time of his shooting, lowered his right hand toward his waistband. All-in-all the narrative we will hear is a false one. Here is a response to a person on a friends Facebook that expands my thinking on a less factual level and more on a human level. Here is the comment that got me going down this road: My issue is that they did not attend to him after he was shot. I don’t know the circumstances. I don’t understand how this could happen. But, how do you not attend to someone who is now powerless because you shot him? They just let him lie there? I just don’t get it? Here is my response I re-watched the longer video and it looks like they were still treating the dark tinted car as possibly holding another person. In other words, it was not cleared. As soon as they cleared the vehicle of any other occupants it looks as though they attend to him. [….] But the key here is that no matter the actions of the officers, the onus mainly lies on Terence. If the officers truly did not attend to him per their training, they will be disciplined, but, the tragedy of the entirety of the situation lies on Terence. Which breaks my heart Yvette V.B…. I do not “glory” in these conversations, or the life loss and that life’s continued fellowship with family and friends. The impact of that loss of life to assist in dividing the single human race, the altered beliefs in his younger family members who will grow up with a distorted view of justice, etc. His choices had unfortunate consequences that at the time he didn’t realize. His choices will likely send a “butterfly” effect that is negative because of the distorted narrative through our current culture. It brings a tear to my eye, but I am sure his senses returned to him at the moment of being shot. While I do not mean to be funny, I bet Richard Priors “Niggas vs. Police” flashed through his mind and I bet he wished — right then — that he had listened. While I don’t know his heart, I can picture this story as relating that a person like Terence would want to go back and warn his family to make better choices: “The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house— because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they won’t end up in this place of torture, too.’ “Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. They should listen to them!’ (Luke 16:19-31). Take note that his choices will now effect those officers families lives. That female police officer (watching the longer video) was devastated. You could hear her voice in the dashcam audio breaking up in sorrow when she said “shots fired.” The helicopter video shows here crumbled over behind a cruiser with a fellow officer consoling her. I think back to Darren Wilson, who was cleared by the DOJ and other investigations… but he can never work [even though cleared in the shooting of Mike Brown]. He must be wary of some sort of revenge because of the lie of “hands up don’t shoot” that came from that. He has to — for the rest of his life — fear for his families life. All for what? Protecting law abiding citizens. The WHOLE thing is tragic. The whole thing. In another response I noted the following: I think they should have tasered him first. But watching the dash-cam video and the helicopter video he was ignoring commands. They were telling him to stop, and he did not. You can also see him dropping his hands to open his door. It is sad that a sense of pride has caused Terence to grieve his family and to divide a nation more. Larry Elder notes that even in the cases where the officer is clearly using deadly force when they do not have to, in that equation is resistance of some kind. If Terence had only followed orders, he would be alive (Romans 13:3-5). Pride is an SOB. In jail “brown pride,” black pride,” “white pride” eats away at people’s souls. Makes them see the world with distorted lenses. Proverbs 16:18-19 tells us that “pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” In another conversation over the issue Seth S.V. wanted the female officer to… For Petes sake the guy was nowhere near his car walking away with his hands up for 10 seconds in that video there was no attempt made to approach, disable, and search him. [….] There was in no way an effort made to close the gap she just casually followed him towards his vehicle then all the officers lined up in a firing squad position and he was shot like really man. [….] A female officer trained in basic grappling techniques would with no question have taken him down
This caused me to update a previous post on this matter that I noted according to Seth’s arguments is one against having females as first responders versus this being an argument against police mishandling the situation in which Terence Crutcher died. The onus is 100% on him, and not the police. No jury or judge would press any charges against these officers.
UPDATE
(Again, this is with a h-t to Katheleen P.) This update shows a history of bad choices and makes his choice to get a weapon to use on police or turn his vehicle into a weapon to harm civilians one of many bad choices… this one leading to his death. It solidifies the choices that the police had to make. Which is unfortunate in that it ended with a life lost. (The graphic to the right were current warrants out for Terence Crutcher, you can enlarge it a bit by clicking it.). There seems to be a dependency in the part of him getting out of prison after 9-years at the link below. I want to thank Craig M. for pointing this out.
- 1996 Shooting with intent to kill — Dismissed
- 2001 Petit larceny — Conviction
- 2004 Driving while suspended — Conviction
- 2005 Driving while suspended, resisting officer — Conviction
- 2006 Driving while suspended — Conviction
- Driving with open container — Dismissed
- 2006 Trafficking in illegal drugs — Conviction. (He was also charged in that incident with assault on a police officer and resisting, but that was dismissed.)
- 2011 Public intoxication (while in prison for drug trafficking) — Conviction
- 2012 Public intoxication — Conviction
- Obstructing an officer — Conviction
- 2013 DUI — Conviction
- Resisting officer — Conviction
- Open Container — Conviction
- Failure to wear seatbelt — Conviction
- Speeding — Conviction