TULSA — Betty Shelby is trying to move on from a day she says, she believed her life was in danger.
"Because I don't know if he has a gun. I'm scared that he has a gun in his pocket," Shelby said.
Betty Shelby says in the moments leading up to the shooting, Terence Crutcher was ignoring commands to stop, and making movements towards his pocket.
Shelby said, "His hand drops to his pocket."
It was later determined Crutcher was not armed, but she was afraid he might have been at the time.
"I've never been so scared," Shelby said.
Law enforcement expert, Andrew Scott says, "I can tell you that first and foremost, she didn't wake up that morning and said I think I'm going to wind up killing somebody."
Former Boca Raton, Florida Police Chief, Andrew Scott is now a law enforcement consultant who works with officers like Shelby. He says her fears and what happens after an incident like this… are very real.
He knows because he too has used deadly force on a suspect.
Scott says, "As he was running, I pulled up by him and he pulled a gun out and I shot him."
Scott has also had to counsel officers after shootings. He says what an officer goes through, few will ever understand.
" The individual was unarmed. That weighs and is going to weigh heavily on her psyche for the rest of her life," Scott says.
Scott says police are human and deal with the same emotions as everyone else.
"We're expected not to show fear. Officers do suffer that," Scott says.
We did speak with Betty Shelby's Attorney Scott Wood, who sent the following statement, reading in part, "additional public statements only stir things up."
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