TULSA -- The Tulsa police officer accused of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man took a roundabout path toward her dream job of joining law enforcement, with stops as a convenience store clerk, an Air National Guard member and a teaching assistant.
Family members and colleagues say Betty Jo Shelby, 42, was an engaged community member, a churchgoer and cool-headed enough to be tapped as a field-training officer even though she didn't join the Tulsa County sheriff's office until 2007 and the city's force until 2011.
Despite completing de-escalation training, Shelby "reacted unreasonably" when she confronted 40-year-old Terence Crutcher on Sept. 16 as he ignored her and walked toward his SUV that'd been abandoned on a street, prosecutors said in court documents. Shelby, who posted bond early Friday, faces a minimum of four years if convicted.
Shelby's attorney, Scott Wood, said Friday that she had a reputation of having a "cool head on her shoulders."
"This wasn't her first week on the job," Wood said. "Betty is a field-training officer. The department has picked her to train new officers, and people will tell you this isn't Betty Shelby to overreact to a situation."
[Read about recent fatal shootings by police across the country.]
He also said Crutcher escalated the situation by not communicating with her, disobeying her commands and walking away from her. "One thing about de-escalation, that's a two-way street," Wood said. "You have to at least have some open communication. There was none with Mr. Crutcher."
Crutcher died of a gunshot wound in the chest, the state medical examiner's office said Friday, adding that the full autopsy and toxicology reports were not finished. His funeral is scheduled for today.
Crutcher's twin sister, Tiffany Crutcher, disputed that he behaved belligerently toward Shelby.
"At the time he was shot, his hands were up, there was daylight, everyone can clearly see that he had no weapon in his hand whatsoever," Tiffany Crutcher said in an interview Friday.
Shelby joined the Tulsa County sheriff's office in 2007 and stayed until 2011, resigning with a salary of $39,516. Records show one "use-of-force" report in 2010, drawing but not firing a gun while searching for a suspect.
Shelby joined the Tulsa Police Department in December 2011; her husband, David, works there, too. Her salary was $53,747 as of May 31, according to a city spokesman; she was placed on leave without pay Friday.
The department refused repeated requests to release her personnel records but said the officer has not been subject to any disciplinary proceedings in her nearly five years.
She has garnered accolades due to her work in the community, said Sgt. Patrick Stephens, a spokesman with the Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93, of which Shelby is a member.
Shelby's pastor, Benjamin Williams of the Glenpool Church of Christ, located in the Tulsa suburb of Glenpool, described her as quiet, reserved and someone who "doesn't fit the stereotype" of an extrovert police officer.
"It was big news to me a couple years ago that she was even in law enforcement," Williams said. "She's not brash or any of those things. I'd imagine her in a church pew anywhere in the country."
Williams said he and Shelby talked this week, with Shelby asking whether she should stay away from church so as to not draw unwanted attention.
"Just not a self-absorbed person at all," he said. "I was really touched by that; she's thinking about how it would affect the church."
Betty Shelby's mother-in-law, Lois Shelby, said this week that her daughter-in-law is religious and is grieving for the Crutcher family.
"I cry all of the time because I love her so much," the 81-year-old retired teacher said through tears, "because I know what a great person she is and how religious of a person she is."
Information for this article was contributed by John Mone of The Associated Press.
A Section on 09/24/2016