There’s a lot of commentary this morning about the police shooting of 44 year old Eric Harris earlier this month in Oklahoma. Here’s a good introduction to it if you haven’t heard about this incident yet. I’m only going to discuss a small part of the story and it’s hardly the most disturbing or perhaps consequential part of it. But it’s the part that stands out to me the most.
The police version of events is that reserve deputy Robert Bates thought he was pulling out his taser when in fact he was pulling out his gun and shot Harris. The single shot proved fatal. This is called a “slips and capture” error in which in a high stress situation you think you’re doing one thing and accidentally do another. A few days later Bates told the paper he thought he was holding his taser when the gun discharged. The tape of the incident at at least some level supports this claim because it has Bates saying “I shot him!” and then “I’m sorry.”
A lot of help that does Harris and his family.
But again, I’m assuming at least for the sake of argument and I think in fact that Bates actually accidentally shot Harris – as in didn’t even realize in some sense or consciously decide to use his firearm.
But look at the detail. Bates is a 73 year old man who is a volunteer member of the department. He’s a wealthy insurance executive who is also a major donor to the Sheriff’s Department. He did serve for one year as an actual police officer – but that was in 1964-65!
In case you’re keeping score at home, that is fifty years ago. The series of events – old man playing policeman, thinking he’s pulling out his taser when he’s pulling out his pistol, being frank and bizarre enough to say “sorry” after shooting the guy – it would actually be funny if the results weren’t so tragic and this guy didn’t die as a result.
Everything else that went into this tragic incident aside, and there’s a lot else, who can possibly think this is a good idea? I know many men in their 70s, some very vital, others frail. But I cannot think of any of them – certainly not when you do police work essentially as a side hobby – who should be carrying and using a firearm in what is the inherently fast moving and stressful work of suspect apprehension, under any circumstances.
This part of the story is simply crazy.
