Before a largely black congregation in Ohio, Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed doubts about a police officer who recently shot an unarmed black man in Oklahoma, saying it's possible not all police officers are cut out for law enforcement work.
"This young officer, I don't know what she was thinking, but I'm very, very troubled by that," Trump said, referring to the caught-on-video shooting of the black man, Terence Crutcher, last week by a white police officer in Tulsa.
"Did she get scared? Was she choking? What happened?" Trump said on Wednesday at a campaign event staged at the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
He added: "Maybe people that choke, people that do that, maybe can't be doing what they're doing."
The Republican presidential nominee's comments came during a campaign swing aimed directly at appealing to black voters and also five days after the nation's largest police union, Fraternal Order of Police, endorsed him for president.
Trump, who is getting crushed by Democratic rival Hillary Clinton among minority voters, surrounded himself with loyal backers, including famed boxing promoter Don King, who accused people of trying to "ridiculize" Trump.
King, dressed in a jacket decorated with sparkling sequins, called Trump fearless "and bold enough to take on the system."
"We need Donald Trump, especially black people," King said.
But those comments were overshadowed by King's joking reference to the N-word. King, 85, was making a point about blacks viewed by their race, not just by their intelligence or talent.
"If you're poor, you are a poor negro. I would use the N-word," he said, and laughed. "But if you're rich, you are a rich negro. If you are intelligent, intellectual, you're an intellectual negro. If you're a dancing and sliding and gliding nigger _ I mean negro _ you are a dancing and sliding and gliding negro."
King, who was convicted of manslaughter for kicking a man to death in 1966, didn't speak at the Republican National Convention in King's native Cleveland in July. But he joined Trump at another stop in Toldeo and was expected to join him at an appearance in Dayton, too.
Trump didn't mention Tuesday night's police shooting in North Carolina, the latest round of tension between police and the black community, during the event. Protests broke out in Charlotte after a black police officer fatally shot a black man. Law enforcement said Keith Scott, 34, exited a vehicle with a handgun and threatened officers.
The Republican nominee did talk at length about his poll numbers, saying he's doing well in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado and Connecticut _ and he just saw "a very good poll from New Mexico."
In his prepared remarks, Trump said the black community has suffered from discrimination. "There are many wrongs that still must be made right," he said. He said he wants to help blacks, Hispanics and all Americans.
"We must love each other and support each other and we're all in this together," he said.
It wasn't until the end of the hourlong event that the church's pastor brought up the police shootings, asking Trump to "think it through" before he spoke because his answer "is going to reverberate around this planet."
Trump answered: "As you know, I'm a tremendous believer in the police and law enforcement. I've already gotten the endorsement from so many different groups and they're great people."
But even among great people, there are bad people, he said.
"These things are terrible. In my opinion that was a terrible situation," he said, referring to the Tulsa shooting, "and we've seen others."
Clinton described the Tulsa shooting as "just unbearable." "And it needs to be intolerable," she said on the "Steve Harvey Morning Show."
"Maybe I can, by speaking right to white people, say, 'Look this is not who we are,'" and work to improve policing, Clinton said.
"We have got to rein in what is absolutely inexplicable, and we've got to have law enforcement respect communities and communities respect law enforcement," she said.
