Deputy Killed Man When He Thought He Shot Taser Rather Than Gun
BY Herschel Smith
9 years, 7 months ago
A 73-year-old reserve deputy who shot and killed a fleeing suspect Thursday during an undercover operation believed he was holding a Taser, not a gun, when the shooting occurred.
The reserve deputy who shot the man is Robert Charles Bates, a Tulsa insurance company executive who was working undercover Thursday as a member of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes Task Force.
Bates confirmed in a phone interview with a Tulsa World reporter Friday that he shot and killed Eric Courtney Harris the previous day.
“It was me,” Bates said during the interview. “My attorney has advised me not to comment. As much as I would like to, I can’t.”
The Sheriff’s Office on Friday evening released Bates’ name and said he received his reserve status in September 2008.
The release states that Bates was assigned to the Tulsa County Violent Crimes Task Force and had received specialized training in homicide investigation, meth lab identification and decontamination, and other specialized training.
Bates had also spent time with the Tulsa Police Auxiliary and then as a full-time police officer, according to the release.
Bates, who owns an insurance company, served as chairman of the Re-elect Sheriff (Stanley) Glanz Committee in 2012 and donated $2,500 to Glanz’s campaign that year.
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Clark said “preliminary information” has led investigators to believe Harris was under the influence of PCP at the time of the shooting.
Gosh, I hate it when that happens to me. I remember the last time I pulled a gun on a dude and thought it was a taser instead. It was all in good fun, but I used the fact that he was high on drugs to argue he deserved it anyway. It kept me out of too much trouble with the law.
On April 5, 2015 at 8:27 pm, SunwolfNC said:
73… one would think there’d be a cut off age for LEOs.
Accidents happen and all, but when your job deals with deadly weapons; they just *can’t*…
On April 6, 2015 at 1:23 pm, Jack Crabb said:
Bates is either a lying POS, or that department needs to upgrade its intelligence standards just a weeeeee bit.
On April 6, 2015 at 5:52 pm, Aj Kurpjuweit said:
Working “undercover”, carrying both Taser and firearm?