The Latest: Sharpton says rallies planned in New York, Tulsa

Sharpton says the rallies will be Saturday in New York and Tuesday in Tulsa.

The 40-year-old Crutcher was fatally shot Friday outside his SUV that was stopped in the middle of the road.

Sharpton called allegations that Crutcher may have been under the influence of drugs “bogus.”

___

7 p.m.

The White House says President Barack Obama has called the mayors of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, to get an update on protests after fatal shootings of black men by police officers.

Obama made calls to mayors Jennifer Roberts of Charlotte and Dewey Bartlett of Tulsa.

The White House says Obama expressed his condolences to both mayors and affirmed the administration’s commitment to provide assistance as needed.

Obama and the mayors reiterated that protests should be conducted in a peaceful manner and that local law enforcement should find ways to calmly engage those protesting.

The White House says Obama will continue to get updates on the situations from Attorney General Loretta Lynch and White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.

___

2 p.m.

The father of a man who was fatally shot by a police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, says his son had his hands up “just like I told him to do.”

The Rev. Joey Crutcher said Wednesday in New York that his son Terence knew to put his hands up when approached by police.

Forty-year-old Terence Crutcher, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot Friday by a white police officer.

The Rev. Crutcher and Tiffany Crutcher, the twin sister of Terence, spoke at the headquarters of civil rights leader Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

Tiffany Crutcher said the family wants charges to be brought against the officers involved in the shooting.

___

12:30 p.m.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma, Police Department says its Twitter account has been temporarily shut down because of inappropriate messages it’s received following last week’s fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man.

The department said Wednesday that its account was temporarily deactivated “due to the overwhelming volume of violent and profane posts.”

The agency has been in the spotlight following last Friday’s shooting death of 40-year-old Terence Crutcher by a white Tulsa police officer.

The department said Wednesday that it will continue to maintain its Facebook page .

___

11 a.m.

An Ohio police chief is speaking out against others in police work following the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Middletown Police Chief Rodney Muterspaw tweeted Tuesday, “As an officer I am so sick and drained of some cops doing things like this. You are making us all look bad. STOP.”

He also hashtagged the name Terence Crutcher, whose fatal shooting by the officer Friday was captured on video made public this week.

The Ohio police chief’s remarks had been retweeted nearly 10,000 times by Wednesday morning.

He responded to critics of his tweet by saying he would have handled the Oklahoma shooting differently, immediately turning it over to state investigators.

The shooting is being investigated by local and federal authorities.

___

10:40 a.m.

Donald Trump says he doesn’t know what a police officer was thinking when she fatally shot an unarmed man in Oklahoma.

Trump said during an appearance Wednesday at a church in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, that he is a “tremendous believer in the police and law and enforcement.”

But questioned the actions of the police officer who shot Terence Crutcher alongside his vehicle in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Trump says he’s seen video of the incident, and that it looked like Crutcher did everything right.

Trump says he’s “very, very troubled” by the actions of the officer.

His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, said on Facebook Tuesday that Crutcher’s death “is just unbearable, and it needs to be intolerable.”

___

7:20 a.m.

The family of Terence Crutcher is “hoping that America will open their eyes” to issues of police violence and racism after the unarmed black man was fatally shot by a white police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Speaking Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day,” Tiffany Crutcher urged leaders to put systems in place to avoid something similar from happening again.

Police say Tulsa officer Betty Shelby fatally shot Crutcher while responding to a report of a stalled vehicle last week. Shelby’s attorney says Crutcher was not following officers’ commands and that Shelby felt threatened, though authorities say Crutcher did not have a gun on him or in his vehicle.

Crutcher’s father, the Rev. Joey Crutcher, told CNN that if the situation was reversed and his son was the shooter, “Terence would have been charged immediately.”

___

2:40 a.m.

The unarmed black man shot dead in the middle of a Tulsa street last week by a white police officer had run-ins with the law dating back to his teenage years and had recently served a four-year stint in prison.

But those closest to the 40-year-old victim, Terence Crutcher, described him as a church-going father who was beginning to turn his life around.

Crutcher’s family could not be reached for comment on his criminal record. But an attorney for his family, Benjamin Crump, said the information should not be used to “demonize” Crutcher.

The Friday shooting was captured by police video, though it’s not clear from that footage what led Tulsa officer Betty Shelby to draw her gun or what orders officers gave Crutcher.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

The Latest: Sharpton says rallies planned in New York, Tulsa

What's Trending