TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The Latest on the not guilty verdict in the manslaughter trial of a white Oklahoma police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man (all times local):
2:50 p.m.
A member of the jury that acquitted an Oklahoma police officer who killed an unarmed black man says the group doesn’t think the officer should return to patrolling the streets of Tulsa.
The jury tells The Frontier that various jurors thought officer Betty Shelby could work a desk job or perhaps be another type of emergency responder.
The man spoke on condition of anonymity because he said jurors did not want to be identified with such a volatile case.
Crutcher was shot in September after Shelby approached him in a city street where his SUV had broken down. Shelby had said she fired her weapon out of fear because Crutcher ignored her commands to lie down and kept reaching into his pockets.
Shelby was acquitted Wednesday.
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1:30 p.m.
An attorney for a white Oklahoma police officer acquitted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man plans to return to work Monday.
Shannon McMurray says Tulsa officer Betty Jo Shelby will be back after the police chief announced her return to duty, although she won’t be allowed on street patrol.
Jurors acquitted Shelby on Wednesday of first-degree manslaughter in the death of 40-year-old Terence Crutcher. She had been on unpaid leave since Sept. 22.
The district attorney said Shelby overreacted in using deadly force because Crutcher had his hands up and showed no aggression toward her.
Shelby says she shot Crutcher in fear that he appeared to reach inside the window of his stalled SUV for what she thought was a gun. No weapon was found.
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12:10 p.m.
A white Oklahoma police officer acquitted in the shooting death of an unarmed black man will be allowed to return to duty, but not on patrol.
Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan issued a statement Friday making the announcement in regards to officer Betty Jo Shelby.
A jury on Wednesday found Shelby not guilty of manslaughter in the death of Terence Crutcher.
Shelby said she fired her weapon out of fear because Crutcher ignored her commands to lie down and appeared to reach inside his SUV for what she thought was a gun.
But prosecutors said Shelby overreacted.
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11:55 a.m.
Jurors who acquitted a white Oklahoma police officer of killing an unarmed black man last year say the officer could have used a less-lethal method to subdue him that could have saved his life.
The foreman of the jury that found Tulsa officer Betty Jo Shelby not guilty of manslaughter in the death of Terence Crutcher on Wednesday also says in a letter that jurors weren’t comfortable with the idea that Shelby was “blameless” in Crutcher’s death.
The three-page memo was filed Friday in court. The foreman and others don’t identify themselves in the memo.
Shelby’s defense attorney acknowledged that Shelby could have fired a stun gun instead of a firearm but said the officer had to make a “split-second” decision because Shelby thought Crutcher was armed. No gun was found.
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8 a.m.
Tulsa community leaders say the acquittal of a white Oklahoma police officer who killed an unarmed black man ripped open a long-festering wound.
From the mayor’s office to schools and churches, race relations have been terrible in Oklahoma’s second-largest city for well over a century.
So black community leaders on Thursday welcomed Mayor G.T. Bynum’s mention of racial disparities on the day after a jury of Tulsans found officer Betty Jo Shelby not guilty of manslaughter. Shelby fatally shot 40-year-old Terence Crutcher in the middle of a city street after observing his disabled SUV in September.
Shelby said she fired her weapon out of fear because Crutcher ignored her commands to lie down and appeared to reach inside his SUV for what she thought was a gun.
But prosecutors said Shelby overreacted. They said Crutcher had his hands in the air and wasn’t combative, part of which was confirmed by police video taken from a dashboard camera and helicopter that showed Crutcher walking away from Shelby, hands held above his head.
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