A white police officer in the southern city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was acquitted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed African- American man, US news reports said on Thursday.
Officer Betty Shelby was charged in September with killing Terence Crutcher, whose car had broken down on a Tulsa street. A jury deliberated for nine hours before acquitting Shelby, according to a local TV station, KFOR-TV. Shelby said she shot 40-year-old Crutcher because she feared for her life, thinking he was reaching for a gun in his vehicle.
Prosecutors argued that Crutcher had not made any aggressive moves, but Shelby’s defence attorneys said he ignored the officer’s commands. In video footage, Crutcher is seen with his hands up, leaning against his car. He is then shot once by Shelby.
