Police Brutality / Individual record
Terence Crutcher
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Terence Crutcher in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-09-16 in Tulsa, OK. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-514
- Incident date
- September 16, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Tulsa, OK
- Agency
- Tulsa Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 40
What happened
Terence Crutcher, 40, was unarmed when Tulsa Officer Betty Jo Shelby shot and killed him on September 16, 2016, beside his stopped SUV. Dashcam and helicopter video showed Crutcher walking with his hands raised toward the vehicle. Shelby said she feared he was reaching for a gun; no firearm was found. A jury acquitted her of first-degree manslaughter in May 2017. Crutcher's estate continued a federal excessive-force lawsuit. In March 2026, the Tenth Circuit reversed a grant of qualified immunity to Shelby, concluding the lower court failed to view factual disputes in the estate's favor, while affirming dismissal of certain municipal claims. The acquittal remains in force; the 2026 decision revived a portion of the separate civil case, not a criminal prosecution.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1888
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- unarmed
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 1313
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset