An attorney for the white Oklahoma police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man said she did so in self-defence, claiming that the victim was reaching into his vehicle when she opened fire.

Recently released dashcam and helicopter footage from Tulsa Police shows Terence Crutcher, 40, walking away from police toward his SUV with arms held high. One officer deployed a Taser shortly before the other, identified as Betty Shelby, fired the deadly round into Crutcher.

The video raised questions about the initial account from police, who said Crutcher refused to put his hands up before the shooting.

“He has his hands up and is facing the car and looks at Shelby, and his left hand goes through the car window, and that’s when she fired her shot,” Scott Wood, attorney for Ms Shelby, told Tulsa World on Tuesday.

Mr Wood said the officer claimed to have seen Crutcher put his hands near his pockets and reach through the driver’s side window of the vehicle – a moment obscured in both dashcam and helicopter video.

Police were initially responding to reports of a stalled vehicle in the middle of the road. It remains unclear what led to officers drawing their weapons on Crutcher, who was reportedly on his way home from attending courses at a local community college on Friday night.