April 14, 2015
Current Events
Police in Tulsa, Oklahoma have released video of a fatal encounter between a black suspect and a white reserve sheriff’s deputy. It’s yet another in a series of incidents that is becoming far too common and expected rather than shocking. However, the “pretend cop” masquerading as a sheriff’s deputy has now been charged with manslaughter.
Video from the April 2nd incident shows police chasing and tackling 44-year-old Eric Harris, who was accused of trying to sell an illegal gun to an undercover officer. A deputy is heard telling Harris, “I need you to roll on your stomach,” then a gunshot rings out and a man is heard saying, “Oh, I shot him. I’m sorry.” It is the voice of 73-year-old Tulsa County reserve deputy Robert Bates, who says he thought he was reaching for his stun gun but had instead reached for and pulled the trigger on his revolver (is a stun gun and a revolver really that easy to mix up?).
In the video, Harris is heard screaming, “He shot me. Oh, my God,” and a deputy replies: “You f*cking ran. Shut the f*ck up.” Harris is then heard saying he’s losing his breath, to which a deputy replies, “F*ck your breath,” while pressing Harris’ face into the concrete.
Harris was treated by medics at the scene and later died in a Tulsa hospital.
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| Reserve Deputy Bates and Eric Harris |
Current Events
An investigator who reviewed details of the shooting concluded that Deputy Bates suffered a phenomenon known as “slips and capture.” According to Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clark, Bates was the victim of a high stress phenomenon in which a person’s behavior “slips” off the intended course of action because it’s “captured” by a stronger response.
So why would a 73-year-old and likely seasoned officer of the law suffer such an event? It’s because Bates is not a full-time cop with years of training and experience — he is merely a rich volunteer who paid for permission to wear a badge and hunt down bad guys for his own entertainment. Hmmm…
Tulsa has a strange history of hiring reserve deputies who are generally volunteers with other full-time jobs, who pay to live out their fantasy as police officers. Bates is actually an insurance company executive who was assigned to the Violent Crimes Task Force. He is a deputy sheriff not because he was the most qualified, but because he paid the department thousands of dollars for the privilege, donating vehicles and equipment to “play cop” during his free time.
The Tulsa Sheriff Department tried to downplay the idea of Bates buying his badge, saying it has more than 100 trained reserve deputies who have “the full powers and authority” of a deputy while on duty, and that it’s not unusual for them to be on an assignment with units such as the Violent Crimes Task Force.
Should a 73-year-old insurance man have been given a gun and the ability to take someones life? Should ordinary citizens who have enough bankroll to play cop for a day be given deadly weapons after making the right donation? Prosecutors are asking that exact question, as they have now charged Bates with involuntary manslaughter.
Hopefully, the game of “pay-to-play-cop” will soon be forced into extinction.
Before I respond, I would really like to ask any Black men reading this ……. PLEASE tell me What is going on with Black men choosing to run from the cops these days rather than surrender?!!! Is this a new phenomena?. Or has running from the police been the norm for Black men? (and I'm just late to that realization) Okay back to DJ's post… So what we kinda have here is an older (and richer) version of Zimmerman. A man playing cop and carrying a loaded gun. When the dust settled we have yet another UNarmed Black man, shot Dead. In the street. Killed by a man,playing cop, carrying a loaded gun.. The fact, that Deputy "Bates "is merely a rich volunteer who paid for permission to wear a badge and hunt down bad guys for his own entertainment."……AND evidently could NOT tell the difference between the feel of… Read more »