Tulsa officer fatally shoots black man who refused to put hands up, police say

18 settembre 2016

WASHINGTON – Continua in Usa la “guerra” tra afroamericani e polizia, innescata nei mesi scorsi dall’uccisione brutale di Alton Sterling a Baton Rouge e Philando Castile in Minnesota, con il seguito degli attentati agli agenti di Dallas e della stessa Baton Rouge.

Il bollettino delle vittime si allunga oggi con la morte di un altro afroamericano a Tulsa (Oklahoma) e con un agguato alla polizia a Filadelfia (Pennsylvania) da parte di un pregiudicato nero che odiava gli sbirri ma che non ha risparmiato i civili.

L’episodio che più rischia di riaccendere tensioni e polemiche riguarda Terrence Crutcher, 40 anni, deceduto all’ ospedale di Tulsa dopo essere stato colpito da un agente. Nella sua ricostruzione la polizia ha sostenuto che due agenti – di cui non sono stati diffusi i nomi nè la razza – stavano camminando verso un Suv fermo in mezzo alla strada quando Crutcher li ha avvicinati ignorando le ripetute richieste di alzare le mani e tentando di raggiungere la vettura: il primo ha usato una pistola taser (di quelle che stordiscono), poi il secondo una ‘vera’. Gli investigatori non hanno però rivelato se la vittima era armata o se nella sua auto hanno trovato un’arma.

Un avvocato della famiglia della vittima ha riferito che Crutcher si era fermato perchè il suo Suv si era spento e ha chiesto che la polizia diffonda immediatamente qualsiasi video dell’episodio, mentre la sorella ha detto di non credere che il fratello fosse armato. La polizia di Tulsa ha già un precedente negativo alle spalle: in aprile uno dei suoi agenti è stato condannato per omicidio per aver ucciso lo scorso anno un nero disarmato già bloccato a terra dai suoi colleghi. Si è giustificato sostenendo di aver confuso la pistola taser con quella ‘vera’.

Sul fronte opposto c’è da registrare l’agguato alla polizia da parte di Nicholas Glenn, un nero di 25 anni con una lunga lista di arresti (16) e condanne (droga e stupro di gruppo). Da una lettera farneticante che ha lasciato emerge come movente l’odio per la polizia e in particolare per un investigatore, cosa non sorprendente forse per il suo passato criminale.

Il suo blitz ha seminato il terrore a Filadelfia. Armato con una Ruger 9 mm, almeno tre caricatori e una borsa di plastica con 13-15 pallottole, dapprima si è avvicinato ad un’auto di pattuglia ferma sparando almeno otto colpi contro una poliziotta, Sylvia Young, 46 anni, rimasta ferita miracolosamente solo al braccio sinistro: a salvarla è stata il giubbotto antiproiettile. Poi l’uomo ha ferito un altro poliziotto alla University of Pennsylvania. Quindi si è diretto in un bar, ferendo una guardia di sicurezza e prendendo in ostaggio una donna, rimasta colpita ad una gamba. Infine ha sparato contro un’auto dove c’era una coppia: la donna, 25 anni, colpita da sette proiettili, è morta poco dopo in ospedale. Il sospetto in fuga ha ingaggiato una sparatoria con la polizia in un viale, ed è stato ucciso.

http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2016/09/18/news/tulsa_agenti_uccidono_afroamericano_su_un_subv_agguato_a_poliziotti_a_philadelphia_colpito_a_morte_l_attentatore-147988987/

Terrence Crutcher, 40, refused officers’ repeated requests before reaching into stalled vehicle, police department says

Police work the scene of the shooting late Friday in Tulsa. Photograph: Joey Johnson/AP

Associated Press in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Saturday 17 September 2016 20.35 BST

A Tulsa police officer shot and killed an African American man who ignored repeated requests to put up his hands before reaching into an SUV that was stalled in the middle of a street, the police department said.

Terrence Crutcher, 40, died at the hospital where he was taken after he was shot by the officer at around 8pm on Friday, police said in a news release.

Police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie earlier told reporters that two officers were walking toward the stalled SUV when Crutcher approached them from the side of the road.

“He refused to follow commands given by the officers,” MacKenzie said. “They continued to talk to him; he continued not to listen and follow any commands. As they got closer to the vehicle, he reached inside the vehicle and at that time there was a Taser deployment and a short time later there was one shot fired.”

MacKenzie said that as of 9pm, police had not searched the SUV and did not know if there was a weapon inside.

MacKenzie did not immediately respond to phone messages left on Saturday seeking further information.

The officers’ names and races were not released. The one who shot Crutcher will be placed on leave, which is routine in cases of police-involved shootings. The county district attorney’s office will determine if the shooting was justified, MacKenzie said on Friday.

Online court records show Terrence Crutcher of Tulsa, with the same date of birth as the man who was shot, pleaded no contest in 1996 to carrying a concealed weapon and resisting an officer and was given a six-month suspended sentence. His only other court records were for traffic violations, the most recent occurring in 2005.

Tulsa police officers do not currently wear body cameras, although they were selected to receive a nearly $600,000 cash-match grant for them in 2015. MacKenzie said she believed the officers’ dashboard cameras might have captured video of the shooting.

In April, a white reserve Tulsa County sheriff’s deputy was convicted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting last year of an unarmed black suspect who was on the ground being restrained by officers. The deputy said he mistook his handgun for a stun gun.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/17/tulsa-oklahoma-police-shooting-suv

Sister of black man killed by police says he was unarmed

Sep. 17, 2016 7:28 PM EDT

Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, left, comforts Tiffany Crutcher, twin sister of Terence Crutcher… Read more

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The sister of a black man shot and killed by a Tulsa police officer when he reached into an SUV stalled in the street said on Saturday that she does not believe her brother was armed.

Terrence Crutcher, 40, died at the hospital where he was taken after he was shot by the officer at around 8 p.m. Friday, police said.

“One fact I do know is that my brother was unarmed,” Terrence Crutcher’s twin sister Tiffany Crutcher told a news conference Saturday. “I’m just devastated.”

MacKenzie declined to say Saturday whether a weapon was found and said the items that were recovered will not be revealed until a news conference Monday by Police Chief Chuck Jordan.

An attorney for the Crutcher family, Damario Solomon-Simmons, called on Saturday for police to release any video of the shooting. Police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie said she believes the officers’ dash cameras might have captured video of the shooting. Tulsa police officers don’t have body cameras, although they were selected to receive a nearly $600,000 cash-match grant for them in 2015.

Solomon-Simmons told reporters that Crutcher was in the area because his car stalled and officers saw him while on an unrelated call and approached.

“From that point, I do not know what occurred. We have no idea, and that’s what is so difficult for us and the family,” Solomon-Simmons said. “That’s our job, to try to get answers for this family as they’re mourning.”

MacKenzie said an officer responding to another call saw the vehicle in the middle of the road and called for backup, and the two officers were walking toward the SUV when Crutcher approached them from the side of the road.

“He refused to follow commands given by the officers,” MacKenzie said. “They continued to talk to him, he continued not to listen and follow any commands.”

Tulsa police did not release the names and races of the officers’ involved. The officer who shot Crutcher was placed on paid leave, which is routine in cases of police-involved shootings. The county district attorney’s office will determine if the shooting was justified, MacKenzie said.

“Every situation is different. Officers are involved in typically fast-moving situations, and officers who choose to use force, base (those decisions) on the situation involved that they are facing,”MacKenzie said.

Online court records show Terrence Crutcher of Tulsa with the same date of birth as the man who was killed pleaded no contest in 1996 to carrying a concealed weapon and resisting an officer and was given a six-month suspended sentence.

His only other court records were for traffic violations, the most recent occurring in 2005.

Tulsa has a troubled recent history of police relations with the African-American community. In April, a white reserve Tulsa County sheriff’s deputy was convicted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting a year earlier of an unarmed black suspect who was on the ground being restrained by officers. The deputy said he thought he was shooting his stun gun when he shot the man with a handgun.

The shooting led to an investigation that resulted in misdemeanor charges against the county sheriff, who resigned and later pleaded no contest to a charge of refusal to perform official duty and pleaded guilty to willful violation of the law. The reserve deputy program was briefly disbanded after an official report found it was riddled with corruption and reserves were poorly trained. But a new police chief reinstated it earlier this year.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/26bb15cc1cd441adbb154a5c92790510/tulsa-oklahoma-police-shoot-and-kill-black-man-street

Sister of Terrence Crutche black man killed by police says he was unarmed : USA the racial question ,i post

Sister of black man killed by police says he was unarmed

Il nostro sito archivio

Il blog precedente 2009-2011

Articoli recenti

Archivi

Categorie

Tag

Meta

Blogroll