Tulsa Sheriff: We didn’t do anything wrong in fatal shooting by 73-year-old reserve deputy

Tulsa Sheriff: We didn’t do anything wrong in fatal shooting by 73-year-old reserve deputy

Although Sheriff Stanely Glanz agreed with the decision to charge reserve deputy Robert Bates with manslaughter, he argued that the sheriff's office had done nothing wrong despite accepting expensive gifts from Bates.

The sheriff of Tulsa, Okla. has apologized to the family of an unarmed man who was gunned down accidentally by a volunteer reserve deputy, but he defended his decision to allow the 73-year-old frequent police donor to assist officers while armed.

Robert Bates, who has donated thousands of dollars worth of automobiles and equipment to the sheriff’s office — including $2,500 to the sheriff’s election campaign — was captured on video accidentally shooting 44-year-old Eric Harris as he was fleeing from deputies in connection with an illegal gun sale, apparently mistaking his gun for a taser, according to a New York Times report. The shooting sparked national outrage over how a wealth man in his 70s who gave expensive gifts to the police department could be entrusted with a deadly weapon and allowed to assist in stings. Bates is currently facing a second-degree manslaughter charge.

Sheriff Stanley Glanz said at a news conference yesterday that he was “sorry Eric was taken from you [the Harris family],” and that he was “sorry we were involved.” He also added that he agreed with charging Bates in the shooting, but continued to assert that the sheriff’s office had done nothing wrong in allowing Bates to work as a reserve deputy, saying that the program was important to the effectiveness of the office.

Bates has been a reserve deputy since 2008, and he apologized during an appearance on the Today show on Friday.

Allegations have arisen that training records had been falsified for Bates by officials in the sheriff’s office, but Glanz denied that was the case.

The FBI investigated the sheriff’s office and found no wrongdoing, although it wasn’t clear whether the inquiry was made into just the shooting or into the falsified records as well, according to the report.

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