Oklahoma reserve Deputy Robert Bates, 73 has now been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of 43 year old Eric Harris. Bates mistakenly took his gun as a taser and shot Harris after Harris ran and officers were in pursuit. Harris was under surveillance after allegedly having sold meth to undercover officers and claimed to have a slash of guns, of which officers had arranged a meeting with Harris for the sale of a gun.
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Harris started running away from officers who was pursuing him in their vehicles, then got out to run after Harris. The officers caught up with Harris and then a pop is heard in the video, (just released by Tulsa officials), followed by a voice that is allegedly Bates' saying that he shot Harris and that he was sorry.
Harris went down to the ground screaming that he had been shot and that he couldn't breathe. Another officer had his hands on his neck and replied to Harris, "fuck your breath". Soon afterwards Harris dies.
The Tulsa County District Attorney's Office today charged Bates with 'Second-Degree Manslaughter involving culpable negligence', defined as the omission to do something which a reasonably careful person would do, or the act of ordinary care...'.
Harris' family had asked for the video to be released in this case and Tulsa authorities did release the body cam video over the weekend which shocked many on Twitter at the cold and callous nature of the cop's response to Harris not being able to breathe. More shockingly, Bates is a volunteer reserve cop who has not been in uniform for over 50 years and is a wealthy insurance broker who has contributed funding to the Tulsa Police Department, calling to question the nature of such 'pay to play' policing.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
http://abcnews.go.com/...