Terence Crutcher’s car broke down on the highway. He called the police for help. Instead, he was shot to death by Betty Shelby, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, cop, on September 16. 2016.

Nearly 10 years after Crutcher, then 40, was killed by Shelby, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Shelby may face trial in a civil suit brought by Crutcher’s estate.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled on March 30, 2026, issuing a landmark opinion in Manning v. City of Tulsa, No. 24-5058, reversing the grant of qualified immunity to former Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby for the 2016 deadly shooting of Terence Crutcher. 

The decision represents a significant rebuke of the district court’s handling of the case and reaffirms that officers who use deadly force against unarmed, nonthreatening individuals cannot hide behind qualified immunity simply because no prior case involved an identical factual scenario.

The opinion carries implications that extend well beyond this single case. For families pursuing Section 1983 civil rights claims in Oklahoma and throughout the Tenth Circuit, Manning clarifies how courts should frame the “clearly established” inquiry, reinforces the obligation to credit the plaintiff’s version of disputed facts at summary judgment, and provides a detailed roadmap for establishing that deadly force against an unarmed person violates clearly established constitutional rights.

The facts, as the Tenth Circuit recounted them, are devastating. On a September evening in 2016, Officer Shelby was driving to a domestic-disturbance call when she encountered an SUV parked in the middle of a Tulsa street with its engine idling. As she examined the vehicle, she noticed Crutcher — a Black man she had passed moments earlier — walking toward her. Shelby believed Crutcher was either under the influence of PCP or experiencing a mental-health crisis, though he had moved off the road and was not impeding traffic.

On Sept. 16, 2016, the encounter was captured on camera, both from a helicopter above and from the dashcam of a second officer who arrived on scene. 

Crutcher was standing by his disabled car when Shelby and other cops arrived. He was unarmed and had both hands in the air. Shelby shot because she believed he was not reaching for a weapon, but no weapon was found. He died less than an hour later.

The fatal bullet entered just below his right armpit. At the same time, a second officer on the scene discharged his taser. 

Shelby claimed Crutcher failed to comply with her commands. Shelby, who is white, was initially charged with manslaughter, but a jury acquitted her in 2017. 

The deadly shooting was captured by Dave Shelby, Betty’s husband, who was piloting the Tulsa Police Department’s helicopter that flew overhead during the fatal shooting of Crutcher. 

He warned his wife that Crutcher looked like “bad due.” Shelby resigned from the Tulsa PD, but she was hired by the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office in Oklahoma.

When I called to do more reporting on the story, the person who answered the phone switched me to a disconnected number. I never could reach anyone to take my call.