Emma Sutherland - Tulsa police officer charged with manslaughter

SUMMARY: 
            Last week, Betty Shelby, a police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was charged with manslaughter for shooting a 40-year-old innocent man, Terence Crutcher. This entire incident began on September 16th when a man (Crutcher) explained that his SUV had run out of gas and he was "waiting for help". However, a woman called 911 and claimed that a man (once again Crutcher) had abandoned his car and was running away from it, exclaiming that he was expecting it to "blow up".  Officer Shelby had not responded to any of the 911 calls given regarding the incident, but she was the first to arrive at the scene. After being approached by Shelby, the affidavit states that Crutcher "was mumbling to himself and would not answer any of Officer Shelby's questions".  They believed that he could potentially have a weapon in his car, and they took precaution. But, instead of handling the situation responsibly, Shelby was believed to have "reacted unreasonably by escalating the situation... becoming emotionally involved to the point that she over reacted". One officer tased Crutcher and the other (Shelby) shot the man, resulting in the death of Terence Crutcher. It was later proven that there was in fact no weapon or anything threatening or dangerous in Crutcher's car, proving him to be an innocent man. Shelby was then accused of manslaughter, and went to a temporary local county jail until a sentence was given. However, shortly after, she was released on bond of approximately $50,000.

ANALYSIS:
            Before I read this article, I understood the current problem regarding police brutality and racial profiling. They explained in the article how the police believed that Crutcher "looked like a bad dude", and was probably "on something". This is stereotyping, and a racial assumption that should not be concluded until proven. Also, police brutality has been an ongoing issue in America, and something needs to be done about it. The fact that Betty Shelby was impatient and assumed that the man was on drugs or dangerous to society in some way shows that police these days need to be conditioned and trained on how to prevent situations like this, and do more research on who they hire to protect your nation. I believe they need to incorporate different hiring protocols to determine who is fit for the job in terms of being nonjudgemental and non-biased to circumstances like this. This is related to the idea of colonial slavery in the way that people have a certain opinion on a type of people and generalize it to everybody of that certain characteristic, ultimately leading to discrimination and unfair treatment throughout.


http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/22/us/tulsa-officer-charged/