Tulsa killing of unarmed black man by police
This incident looks like the real thing: a trigger-happy cop panicking and killing an innocent black man, Terence Crutcher.
We don’t know enough about it to make a final judgment, but so far the fact situation looks bad. The exchange was videoed. If you read the description of the chain of events, it’s difficult to understand why this happened, but the following appear to be factors worthy of note:
(1) Only one police officer shot at Crutcher, which happened simultaneously with another officer’s tasering him.
(2) The officer who shot him (Shelby) had recently undergone drug-recognition training, which I suppose might have predisposed the officer to panic if it seemed the individual might be under the influence of drugs. Shelby claims to have felt Crutcher was under the influence of PCP.
(3) The officer who shot him was a woman. I don’t know how that factors into it, but in general female officers have been found to be less likely to shoot rather than more.
(4) The initial exchange wasn’t videoed, but Shelby reported that Crutcher was rather passive (she came on the scene because his car had broken down in the middle of the road) and unresponsive. However, he had made no aggressive moves, and by the time the incident was being videotaped he had been cooperative and following orders. Right before the shooting, however, he was walking towards his vehicle with his hands high in the air, and then:
Shelby shoots when Crutcher’s “left hand goes through the car window” ”” but no weapon was ever found on him or inside of his car. Wood says that Shelby had cleared the driver’s side of the car prior to the shooting.
It’s probably premature to try to analyze this, but my sense is that a small number of police officers have become so wary of being shot that they are over-reacting. Interacting with a person who may be high on drugs (or who appears to be high on drugs; we don’t know whether Crutcher actually was, but we will probably find out) is an inherently dangerous activity, and evaluating the degree of dangerousness is not easy. But police officers should not be shooting an erratic drug user or mentally ill person (that’s happened, too) merely because he or she doesn’t exactly follow orders and reaches into his/her car, whatever race that person might belong to. The other officer on the scene who tasered Crutcher certainly didn’t think this required a bullet.
Why did Crutcher go back to the SUV and reach into the car? We may never know. We know there was no weapon there (as did Shelby, apparently). We know his hands were up prior to that, but then he reached into the vehicle.
What we do know is that people with an agenda will make the most of this extremely unfortunate chain of events.
Tulsa news sites are mentioning that a vial of PCP was found in the car.
Also note that the car is in the middle of the road. When I break down, I try to go to the edge of the road, not the center.
If I was of sound mind (not high or drunk), I think I would indicate that the car was disabled – car blinkers, hood open, pushing the car towards the side, sitting by the side of the road and calling people. I would obey all commands of a police officer and not walk away from the person. I’m thankful that someone stopped to help.
The initial cop was alone and female – was that a factor?
But, I am not going to assume anything until the investigation – isn’t that what the libs ask me to do when there is an explosion somewhere in NYC, NJ, etc?
BTW, I live in OKC and Tulsa is considered to be the more liberal/cosmopolitan city in OK, so it is somewhat amusing that more cop issues are there. But, every city has some issues.
I’ll update this post when there is more local info which may or may not reach the national sits.
“evaluating the degree of dangerousness is not easy. But police officers should not be shooting an erratic drug user or mentally ill person (that’s happened, too) merely because he or she doesn’t exactly follow orders and reaches into his/her car, whatever race that person might belong to. The other officer on the scene who tasered Crutcher certainly didn’t think this required a bullet.” – Neo
Will await the details to see just what the circumstances were, but it doesn’t look good.
How much does police culture itself have to play in this?
Could it be that the police were too dependent on their lethal weapons such that they let the guy stroll back to his truck?
Also, almost two minutes before they approached the man to provide medical assistance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC3fB7uG3zo
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A couple of prior observations by Mark Steyn on what seems to be a common theme in our country’s policing, as this in Tulsa is not a one-off example …
“Are American civilians so different from Europeans or Aussies or Kiwis or Canadians that they have to be policed as if they’re cornered rebels in an ongoing civil war? …
The principle of Sir Robert Peel’s first bobbies – “The police are the public and the public are the police” – is as dead as can be in this analysis. (There is an assumption) that every citizen is a threat you may be called on to “take down”. Whereas the reality is that a tiny percentage of the citizenry is a threat … When you train people to think like this, and to respond instantly not with a “warning shot” or “the shot” but with overwhelming lethal force, you wind up with policing that is far worse than those wary Londoners’ worst nightmares 200 years ago.“ – Mark Steyn
http://www.steynonline.com/6329/the-warning-shot-heard-round-the-world-but-not
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“if you need to shoot a schizophrenic, a teenage partygoer, a lame septuagenarian, a confused hobo, etc, etc, etc, you’re doing it wrong. “The book” is the problem. “The book” is what needs to change. Anyone who goes into law enforcement assumes the risk that a traffic stop might turn out to be something more. Mr Tolan, Miss Ramsey and the rest of us should not have to assume any such risk. In routine encounters with law enforcement, a citizen should not have to weigh the likelihood that the officer will decide to shoot him dead. That’s about as basic a standard for civilized society as one can muster.“ – Mark Steyn
http://www.steynonline.com/6317/gun-control
I want to support the police, but there seems to be legitimate questions about how they are trained–and maybe selected.
In the past cops used billy clubs, and later mace and eventually tasers before they pulled a gun. Now the gun seems to come out immediately; and once it is out, it is too easy to use it. I am not sure why procedures and practices changed so dramatically.
Cops were tough guys; often physically intimidating. But, even if not, they were folks you didn’t want to challenge, because you knew that ultimately it would be a no-win situation. (In the UK, the legendary, unarmed Bobby was a big bruiser, with an imposing demeanor, and great confidence. He didn’t need a gun to keep the peace.)
In SoCal there were several shootings over the past few years that did not make the National news because they were not black targets. So, neither the press nor activists got as excited. In one instance, there was a spree that involved one guy ambushing cops around the area; and that seemed to trigger a “shoot first, and question later” mentality. Cops actually shot up a “suspicious” pick up truck which was driving away from them and contained two women delivering the morning paper. There had been no confrontation.
I don’t envy cops their situation in today’s climate. They are under fire, literally and figuratively, and must make tough decisions. But, if they can’t handle that, they shouldn’t have a badge–and a gun.
All caveats here that we need to know more, let’s not jump to conclusions, etc, etc. That being said, people are getting killed for doing things that are absolutely not worthy of the death penalty.
Reaching into his window? Being under the influence of drugs? Look, I realize that being a police officer can be extremely nerve-wracking. But they are trained to handle these situations. It’s not working in enough cases (I realize a small percentage, but still) and something needs to change.
I have African American friends, young men who are literally scared to have a car break down or get pulled over because they know there’s a chance they’ll get shot if they don’t react perfectly every step of the way.
I don’t have the same anxiety. Because I know I have less chance of being shot because I’m white. My margin of safety in those situations is way wider than theirs is.
I don’t think this story is going to get much national play as previous ones for the simple reason the officer was female. Wrong gender.
theyre practically ecstatic at NPR. Finally, a possibly legitimately bad police killing of a black man.
Too bad they burned all their credibility on launch of BLM. Which was supposed to get black people all hyped to vote for Clinton. Probably too late for that, too.
Lives matter but they matter more (get more coverage in the media) when they’re sacrificed on the altar of progressive political advancement. If this was a bad police homicide it will be interesting to see how much coverage it gets now.
Big Maq and Oldflyer,
The Mark Steyn quote is spot on. And so is Oldflyer’s observation regarding the changing of tools and tactics.
My credentials: 10+ years in Law Enforcement, 18 years as an Instructor of various Martial arts and 8 years as a DT instructor.
My personal theory is the you can boil the problem down to The Cult of Officer Safety. Somewhere along the line, boots started coming out of the academies more focused on Officer Safety and “Making Sure I Go Home” at the end of the tour, rather than making sure everyone, public included, goes home.
Officer Safety, is all fine and dandy, I guess, until it turns every traffic stop into something that resembles an EOD operation to disarm an IED, with all of the frayed nerves and adrenaline that goes with it.
There also aren’t enough Officers wiling to just walk away from victimless, rather harmless violations, etc. If no one is harmed, and everyone can go home, sometimes (most times), it’s better to just let things go.
This was one of the best things I learned at the hand of a salty old FTO back in the day. Those guys are a dying breed.
A few months ago I almost made it out of California when I was stopped by a state trooper for out-of-date tags.
No biggie, of course. I’ve been stopped by the police before and I know the drill: show my hands, speak courteously, move slowly etc. But this officer seemed really nervous. Each time I reached for my wallet or the glove box at his request, he immediately crouched back to the rear of the car with his hand on his gun.
I don’t know if it was because of new directives or whether I somehow looked suspicious. (I’m a silver-haired white guy.)
It did turn out that there was some database lag and my car, which I bought used, appeared to belong to someone named Garcia from Compton, CA — the 8th most dangerous city in the US according to the FBI.
I am with Bill, wait for more calm info.
Bill:
Don’t have a false sense of security. See this.
Cases involving whites don’t get much attention because there’s no political hay to be made. But everyone is actually at risk with these scenarios.
Please see update.
There is a huge chasm between what the average citizen thinks is a threat, and what dead police officers experienced from underestimating risk. Police weapons training requires officers to assume the worst when suspects disobey or disregard. The public does not sufficiently understand that people need to conspicuously demonstrate FULL compliance with police directions. The fact that a person chose to be on PCP and had limited comprehension is not something officers can know — even if they did, that fact increases the danger and makes the shoot/don’t shoot instant decision more difficult. The hindsight judgments gratuitously made from fragments of information drive good officers out of the police profession and makes the job of policing impossible to do.
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In this case, it looks like a significant threat arose when the suspect went to his vehicle and reached in. One officer responded in the instant by firing a taser round. The other officer responded at the same instant by firing a fatal bullet. Could it have been handled differently? Probably. Should we second-guess the officers’ threat assessment before all the facts are in? Absolutely not.
Mark30339,
“Police weapons training requires officers to assume the worst when suspects disobey or disregard.”
Wait, what?
Mark30339:
Please see the more recent update post.
In both posts I’ve made it clear that new information could change things. But the information so far, including the video, indicates Shelby overreacted.
Officers are not required to take unnecessary risks. But there must be some reason for them to use deadly force that isn’t just based on their own fears that a suspect MIGHT be dangerous or MIGHT be armed. Being on drugs is insufficient.
If you look at the update, you’ll see that even Shelby’s own attorney tells a story that does not explain why she would feel the need to use deadly force. If she had such a reason, I haven’t seen it described so far. She thought he had a gun. Why? Nothing he did indicated he might have a gun, and merely being on drugs (which he may or may not have been, but let’s say he was) is not nearly enough.
And if she thought he had a gun in the car, why on earth escort him back to the car (if you watch the video, that’s what’s happening)? Plus, apparently the car window was closed. How could he reach into a closed window?
So far, this does not appear to be a situation where an officer had reason to believe herself at risk. And the fact that Crutcher was tasered at the same time (or around the same time) only tells us that something happened, it doesn’t tell us it would justify the use of deadly force. I’m not an officer, but I am fairly certain that there is a lower threshold for the use of a taser on a suspect as compared to a firearm.
A lot of police tactics training desensitizes civilians to violence so much, that sometimes they overreact, vs underreact. Both can have problems.
If I over react, I can go to jail or get sued due to negligent homicide or voluntary/not manslaughter. If I under react, I might get curb stomped or robbed or crippled. Police, are not very different from me, being human and also susceptible to crippling injuries, death, and what not. But they would rather over react, than underreact. If they over react, the Union or police or system can keep them safe. If they underreact and die or get crippled, they can’t be saved.
The police unions have it in their favor to desensitize police to violence against their fellow civilians. Why? Because it’s useful to get your very own loyalist death squad in a civil war. But, primarily, it keeps the Union dues and donations going. It’s like a cult, except it’s Officially Sanctioned.
From my pov, my choice isn’t “Obey the Union Mafia or else die”. My choice is to improve my survival chances using independent methods and tools. I can save myself, from even greater dangers than the police are exposed to, without selling out my soul or licking the boots of the union or civil or military bosses.
Of course, I am not exposed to danger as routinely as the police, but then again, nobody pays me to train to protect life and order either. So their jobs are balanced in some ways. If it wasn’t, who would be crazy enough to be employed as one… there are private CO, Corrections Officer, companies. Who would employ as one and deal with criminals for more than 12 hours a day? Obviously people do.
As for the rest of the police forces who have yet to be corrupted, they should take a manual from the Counter Insurgency learned from Iraq.
The US military under Petraeus’ command could deal with Iraqi suicide bombers without killing entire neighborhoods, even though they could, because they wanted to use the least amount of force. As using force against guerillas is counter productive in some ways. You need the loyalty of the people the guerillas terrorize or hide under first.
If the excuse of police is that their jobs are so dangerous they need to use lethal force… well, why did COIN work in Iraq that didn’t involve using the military’s MOABs, bombs, and nukes then? That was their military “max force” after all.
Wow.
Just what the situation needs, misapplication of military solutions from a foreign country in a complicated factional battlespace with much more deadly situations to problems with American citizens.
I guess this is the “Intellectual Yet Idiot” effect.
OM’s Authority on COIN in Iraq is insufficient to have much credibility. Throwing around words like “battlespace” isn’t worth much except as intellectual power point fodder.