With near-daily protests against police brutality and racism continuing across the country, the state, and the Tulsa area, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum made clear to a national news outlet that he does not believe the 2016 killing of Terence Crutcher by the Tulsa Police Department was related to Crutcher being Black.
"A lot of people saw what happened to Terence Crutcher, and they said, 'This wouldn't have happened if he was a white man,'" reporter Kelefa Sanneh said to Bynum on a CBS Sunday Morning segment. "Do you think that's true?"
"No, I don't," Bynum responded.
"It is more about the really insidious nature of drug utilization than it is about race, in my opinion." (The medical examiner said Crutcher's autopsy revealed the presence of PCP.)
Sanneh brought up the acquittal of Betty Shelby, the TPD officer who killed Crutcher despite his being unarmed.
"I know the family was not satisfied with how that case played out in the justice system. Were you satisfied?" Sanneh asked.
"I think we have to have faith in that justice system," Bynum said.
Crutcher's family has an active lawsuit against the City of Tulsa alleging wrongful death. Shelby is no longer a police officer with TPD; she is now a deputy at the Rogers County Sheriff's Office.
