Oklahoma Deputy Tells Dying Man Shot by Accident, “F**k Your Breath,” as He Struggles to Breat

[acptulsa]

I'm glad Bates is going to be dragged into court. He needs to be, though I still say he's nowhere near as bad as the South Carolina regular duty psycho who emptied his clip into his victim before he 'figured out that wasn't his taser in his hand'.

I'd like to see the guy who said, '$#@! your breath' brought to heel, too. But the TCSO and the local lapdog media seem intent on shoving him under the radar.

[phill4paul]

Hope the victim's family get's ALL of it.......

Volunteer deputy accused of shooting unarmed suspect sold company for $6 million to go back to police work

TULSA, Okla. — After he sold his insurance company for around $6 million, Robert Bates sought to return to a profession he tried for a year in his early 20s: law enforcement.

Bates — the 73-year-old Tulsa County volunteer deputy accused of shooting an unarmed suspect to death while the man was being held down by others — began a law-enforcement career back in 1964, when he attended the Tulsa police academy. He served in the city police department only briefly, until the end of 1965, according to the agency.

That's where Bates' path becomes clouded. It's not clear why he left the police force, but 35 years later, he reconnected with law enforcement, becoming a generous donor to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, a campaign manager for the sheriff and a reserve deputy.

Those close ties have raised questions about whether Bates was essentially paying for the privilege of working alongside real officers and whether he had received proper training and certification to perform law-enforcement duties, including carrying weapons.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...lice-work.html

[pacodever]

My question is why his lawyer is releasing his training records and trying to prove that he was trained and qualified to be a reserve deputy and operate BOTH a pistol AND taser before a criminal trial for "Second-Degree Manslaughter involving culpable negligence. Oklahoma law defines culpable negligence as ‘the omission to do something which a reasonably careful person would do, or the lack of the usual ordinary care and caution in the performance of an act usually and ordinarily exercised by a person under similar circumstances and conditions."

Seems to me that proof of his training and qualifications would increase the level of care and caution he would be required to exercise and increase his chances of conviction. I would think this is evidence that would be presented in the civil case to avoid his personal liability by shifting it to Tulsa Co. and their qualification procedures and use of practice of using reserve deputies. Unless, Bates has already secured a choice-plea deal with the DA and is already preparing for the civil case...

"Robert Bates has met all the requisite training required by Oklahoma to be a reserve deputy," said the lawyer, Scott Wood, in an interview with CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/18/us/tul...ining-records/

http://kfor.com/2015/04/13/tulsa-res...-manslaughter/

[Anti Federalist]

Tulsa sheriff: FBI says his department did nothing wrong

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...ting/26068507/

The FBI has reviewed the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a Tulsa County volunteer deputy and determined that the sheriff's department did nothing wrong, Sheriff Stanley Glanz said Monday.

Glanz said the FBI determined that the civil rights of shooting victim Eric Harris, 44, were not violated. The FBI did not immediately return a call for comment on the investigation.

Glanz also said there is no evidence that any training records for Reserve Deputy Robert Bates were falsified, a contention raised by lawyers for the Harris family.

"Mr. Bates has been to the range several times and is qualified, that's documented," Glanz said at a news conference. The department and a lawyer for Bates have released copies of the records.

Harris, 44, had run from deputies conducting a sting operation April 2 when he was wrestled to the ground. Bates, 73, arrived at the scene and shot Harris, who died a short time later. Bates, an insurance executive by profession, said he had meant to draw and fire his stun gun.

Bates is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the case. He is free on $25,000 bail.

"We presented a case to the district attorney," Glanz said. "He has a duty to prosecute it and he will do that."

Glanz said a review would take place to determine if procedures should change in the department -- but added that a review by a state commission indicated department polices and procedures met federal standards.

Glanz said the two met 25 years ago when he was looking for car insurance. Bates served as Glanz's campaign chairman in his 2012 re-election campaign -- and has donated vehicles and other equipment to the department.

Glanz was asked if, in hindsight, he thought Bates should not have been involved in the operation.

"Yes, he should have been," Glanz said. "He was not involved in the undercover sting, he was there as a backup."

Glanz started his news conference by expressing condolences to the family of Eric Harris, who was fatally shot April 2.

"We are sorry Eric was taken from you," Glanz said, adding "That is the business we are in. Life and death."

Bates had reached advanced reserve status and was assigned to the sheriff's Violent Crimes Task Force.

In a videotape of the shooting, the shot is heard before Bates says, "I shot him. I'm sorry." Harris is heard screaming, "He shot me. Oh my God!" adding that he is having trouble breathing. Deputy Joseph Byars responds "(Expletive) your breath."

Glanz said Byars and another deputy have received death threats since the shooting. He said both have been reassigned -- and the Violent Crimes Task Force put on hold pending review.

[Suzanimal]

Reserve Deputy Who Fatally Shot Black Suspect Was Previously Investigated In 2009

...

The 2009 report says Bates, who had joined the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office less than a year earlier, had argued with a dispatcher, improperly used a personal vehicle on the job and had conducted traffic stops on his own without adequate training for a role as an advanced reserve deputy.

The report concludes Bates didn't receive special treatment for admittance into the program because no advanced deputy had fully met internal standards. It did, however, find that Bates received special treatment that included department leaders' ignoring complaints about his performance.

Bates' lawyer, Clark Brewster, said in an email that it was "admirable" that any complaints were "genuinely investigated for truth and corrective action."

An attorney for the Sheriff's Office, Meredith Baker, said in a prepared statement Friday that no action was taken as a result of the report but that the document's existence "demonstrates this office's willingness to investigate and review any allegations of policy violations."

Baker also said the report's release was unauthorized and that the office was looking into the leak.

Bates had 63 hours of state-mandated training in his first 11 months with the Sheriff's Office. In the year after the report, he completed just 47 hours, according to records Bates provided last week from the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training.

...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...ushpmg00000021

[phill4paul]

Reserve Deputy Who Fatally Shot Black Suspect Was Previously Investigated In 2009

no action was taken as a result of the report but that the document's existence "demonstrates this office's willingness to investigate and review any allegations of policy violations.

Hell, that's what every department does. Investigates and takes no action. SOP.

[Anti Federalist]

Tulsa County undersheriff resigns after memo, fatal shooting

http://www.statesville.com/news/us/a...47008cc8d.html

Posted: Monday, April 27, 2015 4:05 pm | Updated: 6:30 pm, Mon Apr 27, 2015.

Associated Press |

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The No. 2 official in the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office resigned Monday after the release of a report that cited him as quashing criticisms of a volunteer deputy who would later fatally shoot a restrained man.

Sheriff Stanley Glanz didn't specify why Undersheriff Tim Albin stepped down but said departmental reorganization was necessary following the April 2 shooting by reserve deputy Robert Bates, who says he mistook his handgun for a stun gun.

"Given the gravity of the current situation and the need to go a different direction with our leadership and management he agrees with me that it is time for a change," Glanz wrote in a news release.

Albin, a 26-year veteran of the office, declined to comment to The Associated Press when reached on his cellphone Monday. Agency spokesman Shannon Clark said Albin's last day is Friday.

The potential of an outside investigation was raised last week by Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, though he didn't elaborate. His office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Monday they weren't doing an investigation, and messages for two county commissioners weren't returned Monday. The local Department of Justice, which did not say whether it is investigating Friday, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Monday. And Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt's office has not responded to repeated requests regarding his role in any probe.

Albin was named in a 2009 internal investigation released Friday that showed deputies had expressed concerns about Bates' performance. Some claimed Albin gave Bates preferential treatment and intimidated those who raised concerns. The former coordinator of the reserve deputy program, Sgt. Randy Chapman, told the investigator that Albin chastised him after he questioned Bates' performance.

The sheriff's office denied the report's existence before it was released. On Friday, an attorney for the sheriff's office said no action was taken as a result of the report, but that the document's existence "demonstrates this office's willingness to investigate and review any allegations of policy violations."

"You need to stop messing with (Bates) because he does a lot of good for the County," Chapman is quoted in the memo saying Albin told him that. Chapman declined to talk about the memo when contacted last week by The Associated Press and also declined Monday after Albin's resignation.

"I've been told to stay out of it," Chapman said.

According to the report, Chapman complained to Albin on one occasion that Bates was driving a personal car with police equipment prior to having the requisite training, Albin told him: "This is a s--- sandwich and you will just have to eat it but not acquire a taste for it." Clark did not respond Monday to an email with questions about whether Glanz knew about the allegations of preferential treatment.

A little more than five years later, 44-year-old Eric Harris was shot while on the ground in custody after running from deputies following a sting operation. The 73-year-old Bates has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree manslaughter. Bates is white and Harris was black, but the victim's brother has said he doesn't believe race played a role in the shooting.

Attorneys for Harris' family have repeatedly called on Glanz and Albin to resign.

[acptulsa]

Tulsa county DA recuses himself from potential investigations of TCSO.

http://www.ktul.com/story/29119802/d...in-the-process

Kunzweiler said he will not recuse his office from prosecuting the manslaughter charge against Bates.

[acptulsa]

Interesting what gets on local station websites and what doesn't. KTUL just did a story about how a group doing a recall petition gave away hot dogs, and was accused paying compensation for petition signatures.

Only thing is, they gave you a dog whether you signed or not.

I can't find it on their site.

[acptulsa]

Mixed, but mostly good news the last two days.

We get to pay for the sheriff's lawyer.

There will be a grand jury convened to investigate the sheriff's department.

[acptulsa]

Glanz just resigned.

[phill4paul]

UPDATE: Jury recommends 4-year sentence for Okla. volunteer deputy who mistook gun for Taser and killed unarmed black man.

“I shot him. I’m sorry.”

Those were the words of then-73-year-old Robert Bates, a wealthy insurance executive who served as a volunteer deputy with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Department, that were caught on camera last April just after he mistook his gun for a Taser and shot an unarmed 44-year-old black man named Eric Harris.

On Wednesday, the 74-year-old Bates was convicted of second-degree manslaughter by a jury, which recommended he serve the maximum sentence of four years in prison, the Associated Press reported. Formal sentencing will occur at a later date. The jury took only three hours to find Bates guilty. His lawyer blamed “negative press” for the verdict.

According to the Tulsa Tribune, Bates’ lawyer called a psychiatrist to testify that Bates “mistakenly shooting Harris was reasonable given the stress of the situation, and before closing arguments jurors were instructed on the statutory requirements for ‘excusable homicide.'” Jurors didn’t buy the argument, agreeing with prosecutors after the 1 1/2 week trial that Bates was guilty of criminal negligence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...med-black-man/

[fisharmor]

Jurors didn’t buy the argument, agreeing with prosecutors after the 1 1/2 week trial that Bates was guilty of criminal negligence.

I just talked to the county police only two nights ago, as I do now every single time I'm going to leave my daughter alone, to verify what the current statute is.
They are still holding to a CPS guideline regarding the amount of time my nine year old can be alone, which is 1.5 hours.
If I leave her alone for 1 hour and 31 minutes, they will use that as an excuse to prosecute me, my wife, or both of us for felony negligence.
In addition, those are only guidelines, so if they catch her alone for any amount of time, at age nine, they can still opt to prosecute for felony negligence.

Which is the exact same thing this guy got convicted for, for murdering an unarmed and restrained man.

[Danke]

[/COLOR]

I just talked to the county police only two nights ago, as I do now every single time I'm going to leave my daughter alone, to verify what the current statute is.
They are still holding to a CPS guideline regarding the amount of time my nine year old can be alone, which is 1.5 hours.
If I leave her alone for 1 hour and 31 minutes, they will use that as an excuse to prosecute me, my wife, or both of us for felony negligence.
In addition, those are only guidelines, so if they catch her alone for any amount of time, at age nine, they can still opt to prosecute for felony negligence.

Which is the exact same thing this guy got convicted for, for murdering an unarmed and restrained man.

At nine years old I had a paper route. I was also able to take the city bus to either downtowns in the Twin Cities by myself.