April 20, 2015
Top News Today
Speaking publicly for the first time, 73-year-old Tulsa volunteer deputy Robert Bates told NBC’s Matt Lauer of The Today Show that he doesn’t know how he made such a mistake in killing a man. Bates explained he carries a stun gun across his chest and a revolver on his right hip, however he’s still unable to explain why he would reach to his right hip to claim a stun gun that was not there.
“I saw the light and I squeezed the trigger, and then realized. I dropped the gun,” he said. “This was not an intentional thing. I had no desire to ever take anyone’s life.”
Surrounded by his own family and friends, Bates apologized to the family of Eric Harris, 44, the man he shot during an April 2nd undercover operation.
Bates has been charged with second-degree manslaughter for shooting Harris and is being publicly ridiculed as a “rich fat cat” who paid huge sums of money to play cop with the Tulsa Police Department. He is currently free on $25,000 bail.
