Protests hit racist cop killings in Tulsa and Charlotte

AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

Protests broke out in both Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charlotte, North Carolina, after cops shot and killed Black men in each city.

Carrying signs saying “Justice4Crutch,” hundreds protested, above, in Tulsa after videos released by police showed officer Betty Shelby shoot and kill Terence Crutcher after his vehicle broke down Sept. 16. Crutcher walked back to his sport utility vehicle with his hands in the air, then the cop shot him.

The cops initially claimed Shelby fired because Crutcher reached into the car and she thought he was going for a gun. However, the video shows the window was closed, splattered with Crutcher’s blood. The cop is now under investigation by both city prosecutors and the U.S. Justice Department.

“That looks like a bad dude too, could be on something,” a cop in a helicopter overhead said over the police radio. “That big ‘bad dude,’ his life mattered,” Crutcher’s twin sister Tiffany told a press conference Sept. 19.

Keith Lamont Scott was shot dead by Charlotte cop Brentley Vinson Sept. 20 when he got out of his car by his apartment building. Cops claim he had a gun. Scott’s family members told the press that he was holding a book, waiting for his son to be dropped off from school, as neighbors said he did regularly.

Protesters marched and blocked Interstate 85 in Charlotte, leading to confrontations and clashes.

— JOHN STUDER