Volunteer deputy, 73, 'meant to use Taser' when he fatally shot suspect
A volunteer sheriff’s deputy who claimed he accidentally drew his revolver instead of a Taser stun gun has been found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting an unarmed suspect.
Robert Bates was a 73-year-old volunteer reserve for the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office at the time of the incident last year, which was captured on video.
Footage shows the suspect, 44-year-old Eric Harris, being chased, caught and then tackled to the ground during an undercover gun sales sting.
As Harris is pinned to the ground, an officer calls for a Taser but a gunshot rings out and a voice is heard saying, “Oh, I shot him, I’m sorry”.
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The victim yells out that he has been shot and is losing his breath, but is told to “shut the f*** up” by another officer, who says “you f***ing ran!”
Bates, a wealthy insurance executive, never denied shooting Harris but said he meant to pull his stun gun, not his revolver.
The jury recommended the maximum four-year prison term. Bate will be formally sentenced at a later date.
Andre Harris, a brother of the victim, told CNN he thanked God for the conviction and hoped it taught Bates a lesson ‘that all lives matter’.
"For a 73-year-old to be out on a drug task force, supposedly chasing deadly criminals, is not his line of work," he said.
The case is one of several in the US in which a white police officer killed an unarmed black man.
