On the evening of September 16, 2016, Terence Crutcher, a 40-year-old Black man, was killed after his SUV stalled and he became stranded on a street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Officer Betty Jo Shelby arrived first while en route to a domestic violence call; police dashcam and helicopter video captured the encounter. The footage shows Crutcher walking toward his vehicle with his hands raised as Shelby follows with her gun drawn. Officer Tyler Turnbough tasered Crutcher as Shelby fatally shot him once in the chest. No weapon was found on Crutcher or in his vehicle. Crutcher was taken to a hospital and later died.

An autopsy detected PCP in Crutcher’s system; Shelby’s attorney said she believed he was under the influence and Shelby said she fired because she feared he was reaching for a weapon. Six days after the shooting, Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler charged Shelby with first-degree manslaughter; she surrendered and was released on $50,000 bond. In May 2017 a jury found Shelby not guilty; she subsequently resigned from the Tulsa Police Department and later joined the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office. The Justice Department later announced it would not bring federal civil rights charges.