Group rallies at courthouse, demands TCSO to remove Betty Shelby as CLEET instructor
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) - The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office is bringing in former Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby and many aren't happy about it.
A group rallied in front of the courthouse with signs that read, "Ban Betty."
"This is a bullet to this family, and we are not going to stand for it," Representative Regina Goodwin said.
Almost two years ago, Shelby shot and killed Terence Crutcher during a traffic stop.
The jury found her not guilty of manslaughter.
"The public opinion is, she is still guilty and will forever be guilty," Goodwin said.
Shelby, now a Deputy Sheriff for Rogers County, will teach a CLEET training course to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office about surviving the aftermath of a critical incident, like the shooting she was involved in.
"Who is concerned with the aftermath that the Crutcher's are going through?" Goodwin asked. "Who can explain the plain that Tiffany and his children and the family are having to deal with?"
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Several other community leaders were among the crowd at the rally, no longer recommending, but demanding the sheriff's office remove Shelby from the teaching roster.
"The jury even said she wasn't fit to be in law enforcement," City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper said. "I think it is insensitive and someone else should be responsible for that."
The sheriff's office says this is routine training and say Shelby has already taught this course to numerous departments across the state, but Hall-Harper says that doesn't make it right.
"It is history repeating itself," Hall-Harper said. "It would be the same thing over and over again."
The group does not have plans to go away anytime soon.
Shelby is expected to teach the course at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
