If Deputy Kyle Dinkheller stops a “black” Andrew Brannan tomorrow and shoots him going back to his car, he is a living a nightmare similar to Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby.
Deputy Dinkheller would be the face of “police racism” despite a difficult, tense and stressful situation.
Unfortunately, the Dinkheller murder is forever seared in the minds of police officers across the world. A combative subject, not following commands, goes back to his vehicle and kills the deputy.
Much has been said about the Tulsa Police Shooting that killed Terence Crutcher last Friday night but few have acknowledged what happened prior to the officer shooting Crutcher as he goes back to his car.
The Tulsa World has reported that Officer Shelby, a drug recognized expert, recognized his behavior as being on “PCP”. A 911 caller indicated Crutcher was acting very strange and stating that the car was going to “blow”.
Now some will say the Dinkheller murder is different based on the fact that the suspect had a gun in the car but that thought flies in the face of Graham v. Connor that cautions the use of “20/20 hindsight.” I know the law gets in the way of the arm chair experts but simply put, the incident in Tulsa is much more complicated than a man and his broke down car.
These complexities require a patience and maturity that very few seem to have in 2016.
We don’t have the video of the initial encounter with Officer Betty Shelby and Terence Crutcher but could it look like what you saw Deputy Dinkheller deal with that fateful night in 1998?
If it looks anything like what most cops have to deal with when it comes to suspects on PCP, it was likely wild, chaotic and extremely dangerous….A scene that played out in a deadly way for Deputy Kyle Dinkheller almost two decades ago.