Another police prosecution fails.

In another case involving police use of deadly force, a jury in Tulsa, Oklahoma has found a police officer not guilty of Manslaughter after nine hours of deliberation. There is an outcry from clergy members and the family of Terrence Crutcher claiming that the case was a trial of Mr. Crutcher rather than Police Officer Betty Shelby, who fired the fatal shot. They have suffered the loss of a loved family member and their emotional roller coaster is understandable, but their arguments border on the moronic. They argue that Officer Shelby did not have a toxicological report that Crutcher had ingested PCP and was unaware of his criminal record. Neither of those facts are relevant to the decision making process of Officer Shelby. She was acting on his behavior and a jury has now ruled that her action was, based on the facts she knew at the time, reasonable. The statements of the family and some clergy only reinforce the determination that the officer’s assessment of Mr. Crutcher’s behavior was sound. The Department of Justice has, at this point, shown no interest in pursuing a Civil Rights investigation.
The next high profile trial will start May 25 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It involves former University of Cincinnati police Officer Raymond Tensing in the shooting death of Samuel Dubose during a traffic stop. This will be the second trial of this officer. The first trial ended with a hung jury.The prosecution has recently been in Court arguing the major issue of whether or not an undershirt worn under the bullet proof vest will be admitted as evidence. They claim that it shows a malicious intent on the part of Tensing because it displays a confederate flag.
No trial date has yet been set for the Chicago Police Officer charged with shooting a seventeen year old black male which was captured on a dashboard camera or the status of the case of a police officer in Minnesota who shot and killed an armed black man with a concealed carry permit.
When prosecutions are based solely on the potential of political backlash rather than the actual evidence, the resulting failure is an inevitable outcome.
Whether or not Betty Shelby will ever be able to return to duty as a law enforcement officer is yet to be determined. As in the Ferguson, Mo. case of Darren Wilson who, even after being absolved of any wrongdoing, has been unable to return to a career that he apparently loved.
These deaths are clearly tragic but, are we, as a nation, holding law enforcement officers to an impossible standard?#alllivesmatter #supportourpolice