Eric Garner. Walter Scott. If you thought you had already seen the worst of police brutality, think again.
from NY Daily News:
It was a mistake.
That’s the blasé explanation Oklahoma officials gave after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white deputy who accidentally pulled his gun when he meant to use his Taser.
The botched encounter was captured on a disturbing video released by police on Friday — nine days after the fatal Tulsa shooting.
“He shot me! He shot me, man. Oh, my god. I’m losing my breath,” Eric Harris says as he struggles on the ground following the April 2 shooting, which flew under the radar until video emerged a week later.
“F— your breath,” a callous officer can be heard saying. “Shut the f— up!”
Reserve Deputy Robert Bates, 73, shouted “Taser! Taser!” before pulling the trigger on his gun, firing a round into Harris.
“I shot him!” the former policeman says, dropping his gun. “I’m sorry.”
Bates was assisting other deputies who were trying to take Harris into custody after the felon fled from police during a sting operation, the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office’s said.
“You shouldn’t have f—–g ran!” another deputy screams, as Harris is held down by his neck and head.
Harris, who was in his 40s, was pronounced dead about an hour after the shooting, authorities said.
He had bolted from officers who were trying to arrest him for selling a 9 mm. semiautomatic pistol and ammunition to undercover cops.
Harris, who was unarmed, had reportedly done time for assault and battery on an officer.
He was “absolutely a threat when going down,” Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clark said at a news conference.
Sheriff’s Capt. Billy McKelvey claims the arresting officers were not aware Harris had been shot, despite the gunshot noise and Bates’ admission. They called paramedics and firefighters, and rendered aid when they realized, McKelvey said.
Before you watch the video, the story gets even worse.
from Tulsa World:
Tulsa County Sheriff’s officials determined that reserve deputy Robert Bates thought he was holding a stun gun, but actually had a pistol when he shot Eric Courtney Harris.
They also revealed that the sheriff’s 130-person reserve deputy squad is full of “a lot of wealthy people” and donors, some of whom are participating routinely in operations like the undercover investigation. We think that goes well beyond the public’s comfort level, and it’s time for a closer look.
[…]
The reservists are typically unpaid volunteers who work other full-time jobs, but they go through the same although abbreviated training components as a normal deputy and have full powers and authority of a deputy while on duty.
Bates has received hundreds of hours of specialized training, including homicide investigation and meth lab investigation and decontamination. He also was chairman of and a $2,500 donor to Sheriff Stanley Glanz’s 2012 re-election campaign.
It appears that Bates’s biggest qualification to serve as a deputy on the Violent Crimes Task Force (at 73 years old) is that he donated $2,500 to the Tulsa County Sheriff’s election campaign.
Let that sink in.
Now, the video.
There is no visible gore, and the gunshot happens off camera, but I warn you, the content is still deeply disturbing. For this reason I’m putting it after the jump. Click through to watch the video.
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