By Kevin Canfield
Tulsa World, Okla.
TULSA, Okla. — A federal civil rights lawsuit filed against former Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby can proceed after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up her appeal of a lower court’s decision denying her qualified immunity.
Shelby shot and killed Terence Crutcher on Sept. 16, 2016, during a stop to investigate a running vehicle left unattended in the roadway.
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Shelby was acquitted of a first-degree manslaughter charge by a Tulsa County District Court jury in May 2017, but a federal civil rights lawsuit filed soon thereafter by the estate of Terence Crutcher has been making its way through the court system since.
The case is set to go to trial Feb. 8 in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Oklahoma .
Qualified immunity refers to a legal doctrine that protects law enforcement and other state and local officials from individual liability unless the official violated a clearly established constitutional law.
“My initial reaction was relief. It was a breath of fresh air to know that the highest court in the land opened up the door for us to finally get our day in court,” Terence Crutcher’s twin sister, Tiffany Crutcher , said Tuesday. “That decision sent a strong and clear message that Terence’s life mattered.”
Crutcher, founder and executive director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation , said what her brother needed that day was help.
“Instead, he got a Taser and a gun at the same time,” she said.
Crutcher said the decade-long legal battle has been about more than her brother.
“But to ensure that nobody endures what Terence endured,” Crutcher said. “And it’s so important that we become the change that we want to see. And that means teaching our youth to respectfully interact with law enforcement.
“It means improving community law enforcement relationships. It means investing in communities and neighborhoods and ensuring that our kids live in communities that are safe and free from violence and harm.”
In his petition to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, attorney Scott Wood argued that in denying Shelby’s request for qualified immunity the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based its decision on generalized excessive force principles “rather than precedent addressing the officer’s specific conduct under the particular circumstances confronted.”
Wood noted that the court has repeatedly, including most recently in Zorn v. Linton, reversed lower court decisions denying qualified immunity when presented with similar cases.
“The question presented is: Whether the Tenth Circuit’s qualified immunity analysis conflicts with this Court’s repeated instruction that clearly established law must … be defined with a high degree of specificity and grounded in precedent squarely governing the officer’s conduct under the particular circumstances confronted,” Wood wrote.
Wood said Tuesday that he was not surprised by the Supreme Court’s action.
“Around 1%, or one out of every 100 petitions that get filed with the Supreme Court , get selected for review,” he said. “So it didn’t come as a shock to us.
“The part I want to emphasize is that it doesn’t have any reflection on the evidence in the case, except that the court, the 10th Circuit, believed that there were some factual issues that had to be resolved by a jury and not by a judge.”
In April 2024 , U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren granted summary judgment to Shelby and the city of Tulsa , dismissing both defendants in the 2017 federal lawsuit brought by Crutcher’s estate.
In March, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver dismissed an appeal by the Crutcher estate regarding the city of Tulsa’s municipal liability, finding that summary judgment in favor of the city was proper.
In the same ruling, the 10th Circuit Court overturned the District Court’s ruling granting summary judgment to Shelby and ending the case against her.
Shelby then requested a stay of proceedings while she pursued an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of the 10th Circuit Court’s denial of qualified immunity.
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