An unarmed black man shot dead by a white police officer after his car broke down on a city street last month was high on the hallucinogenic drug PCP in when he died, according to toxicology tests released by a medical examiner Tuesday.
Terence Crutcher, 40, had “acute phencyclidine intoxication” when he died Sept. 16. Officer Betty Jo Shelby was charged with first-degree manslaughter after his death, with a prosecutor saying she reacted unreasonably when Crutcher disobeyed her commands.
Medical literature says PCP, also known as Angel Dust, can induce euphoria and feelings of omnipotence as well as agitation, mania and depression.
Dr. Matthew Lee, a physician and pharmacist who also works for the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, said the 96 nanograms per milliliter of PCP found in Crutcher’s system is more than enough to cause someone to be uncoordinated, agitated and combative.
“It’s on the high side, relative to causing some sort of impairment or intoxication,” Lee said.
Videos from a police helicopter and a dashboard camera showed Crutcher walking away from Shelby on a North Tulsa street with his arms in the air, but the footage does not offer a clear view of when Shelby fired the single shot.
Tulsa police had said previously that they had found a vial of PCP in Crutcher’s SUV — and the police officer’s lawyer said she had completed drug-recognition training and believed Crutcher might have been under the influence of drugs.
Lawyers for Crutcher’s family released a statement saying the toxicology report “does not change the most pertinent facts of this tragedy” and that Shelby “should be held accountable for her unlawful actions.”
According to an eight-page report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Oklahoma City, Crutcher suffered a “penetrating gunshot wound of chest” and noted both of Crutcher’s lungs were pierced and that he had four broken ribs. In addition to saying Crutcher had PCP in his system, it said he was obese and had too much cholesterol in his gallbladder. The examiner recovered a bullet fragment from Crutcher’s left chest.
Shannon McMurray, one of Shelby’s defense attorneys, said the report helped provide an early “snapshot” of evidence in the case and that as more is released, “it will be clear in my mind as the case unfolds that the officer was justified in her use of force.” Another Shelby lawyer, Scott Wood, had said previously that the officer was so focused on Crutcher that she didn’t hear other officers near her before she fired her service weapon. Almost simultaneously, another officer fired a Taser at Crutcher as he moved toward his SUV.
In a text message to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said he expected the tests would show Crutcher had drugs in his system, including the possibility of PCP.
Shelby, 42, has pleaded not guilty. She faces between four years to life in prison if convicted.
Tulsa has a history of troubled race relations. Four months before Crutcher’s death, a white former Tulsa County reserve deputy, Robert Bates, was sentenced to a four-year prison term on a second-degree manslaughter conviction. He said he confused his stun gun with his handgun when he fatally shot an unarmed black man in April 2015. That shooting led to the temporary suspension of the reserve deputy program after a report found poor training of the volunteer officers, a lack of oversight and widespread cronyism.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
The headline reads that the “cops (were) high on PCP”. Are journalists now so incompetent that they cannot express a coherent statement?
Good question. Most journalists in America, and many American citizens, even many teachers, do not even know the difference between the meanings of the words “take” and “bring”. It is like the difference between “go” and “come”.They have opposite meanings but “bring” is being used to represent both meanings. You can’t “bring” someone somewhere unless you “take” them there. You would have to already be there to bring them there.
According other news reports I have heard a person on pcp in most cases shows an increase in strength. With all of the buzz of police abuse anyone on this drug could freak out and attack anyone around them. Could have been a child.
One less drug addicted porch monkey
I support law enforcement in the shooting of suspects when their lives are threatened and when it is appropriate. That isn’t to say that there may be some in law enforcement who shoot in inappropriate situations, In those cases the officer(s) should be prosecuted. In times like these of unusual stress, anyone in law enforcement who does not feel they can handle every situation appropriately (not shoot when it is inappropriate to shoot) should resign. None of what has happened in these cases excuses, or justifies, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, and their unlawful and outrageous war on cops.
Each person is responsible for his/her self-disciplined behavior and choices. IF YOU MAKE
the “RIGHT CHOICES” every time, YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR
ACTIONS TO ANYONE. However, there is a portion of our society who have NO SELF
DISCIPLINE, and live their lifestyle to an early death or incarceration.
Terrible sad. Training, training, training.
Participating in Boy Scouts and Girl scouts should be mandatory in all school children or given one half grade higher incentive so they grow up with respect and are decent to each other. Drug use would mostly go away and this would be a more fit nation.
Drug users, well I have no respect for them at all > ZERO.
And wouldn’t it be nice if all the home center employees who help tie down a load of whatever on your roof COULD TIE A KNOT ?
The killing of anyone no matter the color is a sad waste of human life. The idiot who responded “one less porch monkey” can’t have any human feelings about the quality of life and the loss of life in general for anyone but his own. We are responsible for our actions, this is true, but we are still a nation that is rich and full of diversity and this nation was founded on that fact of life, in fact that person’s history likely has a lot of that diversity in it if he would bother to check his ancestry and wouldn’t likely care for it. It is sad that things come down to the use of force, however, when someone is on drugs they are not in their right mind and no one knows what they are capable of. I had someone drop a hit of acid in a pepsi years ago and it is the worst thing in my life that I ever went through. You have no idea what is happening to you and you have no idea what you need to do or can do to stop it. The police are on the other side of that trying to figure it out w/out doing any harm, but if they can’t accomplish that end, they have to figure out something and sometimes force is the only alternative left. That “porch monkey” comment is offensive and we have not and never will move forward from our racial diversities with people with attitudes like that in this world. That is what is causing all this to begin with.
This is why these incidents are investigated. As the facts come out in this case the police officer may be cleared of any wrong doing. People need to let investigators do their job rather than jumping to conclusions and beginning to riot.
The problems here are because of poor choices made by people that many times the police have to deal with. In this instance the officer involved probably was in fear of being attacked for doing their job. The perp CHOSE to get high on PCP and ACT in a threatening manner. He is dead and we want to blame the cop. We need to go back to holding people responsible for their bad life decisions instead of blaming everyone else.
I agree with you Tarheel, They have to take responsibility for their own doings. That guy chose to do something stupid and as Forrest Gump says “Stupid is as stupid does” and ” that is all I gotta say bout that”
I did not know that using a controlled substance was a reason for summary execution. The old saying that you yell wolf too many times and the wolf loses importance.
I suspect the medical results will show that the same is true of the colored individual who was shot by the El Cajon police last month. While family members claimed that he was mentally unstable,an autopsy will show that he was high on PCP.
Unfortunately, (for BLM) that’s not a legitimate reason to riot and push their ‘Racist’ agenda, but it’s all they got!!!