RIP Terence Crutcher: Another Man Senselessly Murdered By Police Officers


(via facebook)


Disturbing video footage of Terence Crutcher’s encounter with police officers in Tulsa, Oklahoma has been circulating the internet. The encounter eventually led to the ending of Crutcher’s life. Another life taken for no real reasons by officers of the law.

Terence Crutcher died next to his car, after stopping in the middle of the road due to car trouble. This case didn’t play out any differently than the countless other cases of police officers being trigger happy with unarmed black civilians. Betty Shelby, the 42-year-old cop who shot and murdered Crutcher had no reason to fire her weapon but she did.

According to reports, the officers seemed to already have formed an opinion about Terence Crutcher before fully assessing the situation upon arriving on the scene. They thought he looked like a “pretty bad dude”. Crutcher was seen as a suspect and wasn’t even a criminal, or someone they needed protection from. He was an unarmed civilian having car trouble who ended up shot and tased by officers simply because he looked like a “bad dude” to them.

After being murdered by the officer, Crutcher’s body was left on the ground for hours.

Another hashtag. Another body. Another injustice. Another life senselessly taken.

Why was Terence Crutcher murdered? He didn’t do anything to give the cops any reason to feel threatened. How big of a factor did his race play in the way things ended? What about him made the officers judge him as a “bad dude”?

It seems nothing has changed in history, except maybe the way in which racism is being carried out. We may not see men in white sheets running through towns on horses burning people and crosses, but now we get to witness men and women riding around in police cars shooting at will and getting away with murder. Police reform is a joke and it hasn't really been all that successful within the United States. Even if you do not want to acknowledge the countless civil rights violations, how can you ignore the fact that police officers have gotten completely out-of-hand? Using their "power" and positions to carry out criminal acts. Who's policing the police? The organized gang that is currently terrorizing people of color simply because they feel fake threatened or intimidated.

Terence Crutcher should not be dead today, he should be home with his family. He wasn’t a criminal, or a “bad dude”.  

The case is being reviewed through the Justice Department. Let’s see if justice will be served in this case. Rest in Peace Terence Crutcher.

 

written by Chandra Meadows of POP ATL 

The video of the shooting is below. Be advised, the footage is graphic, watch at your own discretion.