Robert Bates, the Tulsa-area businessman who was acting as a Tulsa County reserve deputy when he shot an unarmed man named Eric Harris in April 2015 was sentenced on Tuesday to four years in state prison. Bates had been convicted of manslaughter in the second degree by a Tulsa, Oklahoma, jury last month.
Harris was the subject of an undercover illegal weapons operation. Deputies chased Harris and tackled him when Bates, who had been riding along in the vicinity with other deputies, attempted to aid in subduing Harris. Bates claimed he meant to tase Harris but pulled his gun instead and it accidentally went off, striking Harris. Video from sheriff deputies’ body cameras captures Harris exclaiming “I’m shot, I can’t breathe,” while an unidentified sheriff’s deputy proclaims, “Fuck your breath.” Harris later died from his wound.
The incident led to questions of whether the agency made a practice of offering “pay to play” services for non-law enforcement persons wanting to be deputies “for a day.” A subsequent investigation found that Bates had received special treatment from the Tulsa sheriff’s office based on donations made to the agency. Bates was also found to have not been properly trained to be a reserve deputy.