And They Killed Another Black Man

Terence Crutcher was a church-going, family man who came from a faith-based family and would give you ‘the shirt off his back for anyone.’ His friends remember him as a ‘good, loving person.’

But Crutcher is no more. He was shot and killed by officers of the Tulsa police department on Friday (16 September). Videos released by Tulsa police department, one from a police camera on the ground and another from a helicopter in the air, show that Crutcher was cooperating with police. His had his hands raised up the whole time.

Police say that Crutcher refused to comply with orders which forced officer Tyler Turnbough to use the taser gun on him. But from the video, it appears that the lead officer, Betty Shelby fired her weapon almost at the same time. Local authorities are currently investigating the matter.

According to Crutcher’s family, he was waiting for help on the road after his SUV broke down. Police say they were responding to a 911 call which complained that an SUV was in the middle of the road, blocking the traffic. Shelby, who fired on Crutcher says she wanted to arrest him but he was not by himself and probably under influence of something and not following orders.

Crutcher’s family, friends and activists of Black Lives Matter movement are asking that criminal charges be slapped on Shelby. However, it’s very hard to prosecute the cops in the US. If he/she can articulate ‘a plausible narrative where their life was in danger — often involving the suspect making a “sudden” or “furtive movement,” or “reaching for his waistband” as if for a gun — any lack of actual danger or dangerous weapon is not relevant to the officer’s legal culpability.’

America’s record is abysmal. On an average, out of every 1,000 shootings, only in 54 cases cops get prosecuted. Since August 2014, police in the US have killed as many as 2,195 people.

Police kill Black people at disproportionate rates. They form only 13 percent of the total population but 31 percent of those killed by Police are blacks.

Such inherent racism in the law enforcement in today’s America would’ve shocked Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln. America has huge potential and it will continue to be the leader of the free world as long as it is not splintered on racial lines.