His name was Terrence Crutcher, and he was 40 years old. His SUV broke down in the middle of a road in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mr. Crutcher made a call, then waited for assistance. In the mean while, a 911 call claiming an SUV was blocking traffic with car doors wide open, drew Officer Betty Shelby to the scene, distracting her from her original destination; a domestic violence call. Officer Shelby then stated that she “ordered commands” in which Crutcher was not responding to. She deemed him to be “under the influence”, or “mentally disabled”. After a few more commands, Crutcher, for some unknown reason walked back to his vehicle with hands in the air and surrendered – not a weapon, or drugs, or even his pride were evident as he surrendered his life.
“That looks like a bad dude.” an officer from the helicopter above stated as the officers watched Crutcher, unarmed, walking back to his vehicle with his hands up. Another officer joins the scene down below. Crutcher is allegedly tazered by the adjoining officer, and simultaneously shot by Officer Shelby. A lifeless body laid on the gravel, as blood quietly leaked from his life.
Of course, Officer Shelby’s attorney Scott Wood said she feared for her life. I mean, a 40-year-old big, black man with hands raised high above his head? I’d be scared too [sarcasm]. But, now Officer Shelby, who spent all of 30 minutes in police custody sits at home, no longer fearing for her life, on paid leave.
Wood states that Officer Shelby was ,”so hyper-focused, that she did not hear the other officers, or the gunshot she fired.”
Was she so “hyper focused” that she could not see an innocent human being with his arms high in the air?
This phenomenon (of being so in the moment that one cannot hear) is called auditory exclusion. However, it should be called temporarily deaf. White people should claim temporarily deaf, as a legitimate excuse because this shooting is not the first time black lives have fallen on deaf ears.
"…and it's not only a common phenomenon described in literature, but it's the No. 1 perceptual distortion by people I have represented who have been involved in shootings — diminished sound or complete auditory exclusion." Said by Wood. Auditory exclusion has been reported mainly by police officers, according to David Klinger, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Klinger interviewed 80 officers, in 113 separate cases where officers have shot civilians. Auditory exclusion was the most commonly reported experience in 82% of the cases he studied.
A professor of sociology, Lori Brown of Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina disagrees with Klinger. She believes “it's dangerous to think a police officer would use auditory exclusion as a possible explanation for killing a man who was not doing anything aggressive.” There is a distinct bias among many people (including blacks) regarding Black men, and it is this bias that is killing us. The African American community agrees with you, Lori Brown.
The African American community has heard this story one too many times. Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Oscar Grant, Jordan Davis, Alonzo Smith, Freddie Gray, most recently Alfred Olango, and the list goes on. All Black. All unarmed.
The Black community is hurting, and one by one, slowly losing each other to the negligence of cowards, like Officer Shelby. Law enforcers, whom people depend on to serve and protect, are instead firing and killing the innocent. It appears the colors red, white, and blue of the American flag, which is supposed to represent in essence freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, now stands for the red bloodshed of Black people and the white skinned officers clad in blue uniforms.
Stop killing us.
