Memorial Service Held for Terence Crutcher

Almost 1,000 people gathered Saturday night for a memorial service at Antioch Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to honor the life of Terence Crutcher, the Tulsa World reported.

Just over a week ago, Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby gunned down the 40-year-old father of four who was standing — unarmed — outside his stalled vehicle on a roadway.

There was plenty of good gospel music, which Crutcher loved to sing. His cousin, Shea Seals, said music was Crutcher’s passion.

“It was a wonderful release, and a way for him to show how thankful he was for life,” Seals said, according to the newspaper.

The Crutcher family lawyer, Damario Solomon-Simmons, underscored statistics that show police nationwide disproportionately kill a high number of Black men.

“It could have been me, … just like Terence, I’m 40 years old, and just like Terence, I’m bald-headed, and just like Terence, some people think I look like a bad dude, but just like I am, Terence was not a bad dude,” the lawyer said at the service, reported The Tulsa World.

A police officer described Crutcher as a “bad dude,” while his helicopter circled above the encounter between Crutcher and officers on the ground.

During his comments at the service, Solomon-Simmons demanded “full justice” for Crutcher, emphasizing that the shooting was unjustified. He wants a conviction of Shelby — who is charged with first-degree felony manslaughter — and Tulsa to appropriately care for Crutcher’s children.

Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett also spoke during the service, expressing his sorrow for Crutcher’s death.

SOURCE: Tulsa World | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty, Twitter

SEE ALSO:

Historically This Is Who White America Is: Exploring The Deaths Of Unarmed Black Men

Terence Crutcher’s Death Shows It’s Past Time For A Change In Policing Tactics In The U.S.

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Memorial Service Held For Terence Crutcher was originally published on newsone.com