Terence Crutcher shooting: Police officer who shot unarmed black man had history of domestic incidents

Betty Shelby is accused of acting 'unlawfully and unnecessarily' by shooting the 40-year-old

The Oklahoma police officer charged with manslaughter after shooting an unarmed black man was involved in two domestic incidents before she joined the force.

Tulsa County’s District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said Betty Shelby had been indicted over the death of Terence Crutcher after his car broke down in the city last week.

A court filing by prosecutors alleged Shelby had acted “unlawfully and unnecessarily” by shooting the 40-year-old when he refused to follow her instructions and said she had become “emotionally involved to the point that she overreacted”.

Video footage released by the police force on Monday shows Mr Crutcher being surrounded by four officers before being shot by one - later identified as Shelby.

Police witnesses said Mr Crutcher had refused to comply with commands to raise his hands and had reached inside the vehicle, although the footage appears to show him walking towards the car with his hands up.

Shelby's attorney Scott Wood said Mr Crutcher had failed to listen to her commands and appeared to be acting under the influence of drugs.

Tiffany and Terence Crutcher (Courtesy of Crutcher Family/Parks & Crump, LLC/AP) (Courtesy of Crutcher Family/Parks & Crump, LLC/AP)

He said Mr Crutcher did have his hands up but then moved unexpectedly to the side of his vehicle, prompting Shelby to fire her gun and a colleague to shoot his taser as a precaution.

Shelby joined the Tulsa police force in 2011 and had worked for the County Sheriff’s Department for four years prior to that.

On her initial application form in 2007, which was released to the public on Monday, Shelby circled “yes” when asked if she had ever “possessed and used illegal drugs”.

The sheriff's office later released a letter from Shelby in which she described using marijuana twice at parties when she was 18, NBC News reported.

Shelby also admitted to two previous domestic-related incidents that had involved the courts.

The 42-year-old said she and her then-boyfriend had damaged each other’s cars during a break-up in 1993.

The pair had temporary restraining orders filed against each other that were subsequently dismissed.

Shelby also admitted that her former husband’s new wife had filed a request for a protective order against her in 2002, accusing the future officer of making harassing phone calls although Shelby denied the allegation.

The protective order was later dismissed by a judge who, Shelby said, “saw that I was not guilty of the accusations made against me”.

Mr Crutcher’s death is the second high-profile shooting of a black man in the US in just a week after Keith Lamont Scott was shot dead while sitting in a car in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday.

The city erupted into three nights of rioting as people protested what they perceived to be systemic racism rife within the local police force.