The white reserve sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed an unarmed black man earlier this month disputed a local newspaper report that alleged his bosses had falsified his training records in a rambling Friday interview.
The Tulsa World reported Thursday that supervisors in the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to sign off on field training and firearms certifications that Robert Bates did not complete, citing multiple anonymous sources.
“That is not correct,” Bates said on NBC’s “Today,” adding that he has proof of his training “in writing.”
Bates and his attorney, Clark Brewster, then alleged that one of the newspaper’s anonymous sources was a man who was fired from the sheriff’s office seven years ago and is facing a murder charge. Brewster said that person is represented by the same law firm representing the family of Eric Harris, the unarmed black man who Bates fatally shot on April 2.
The sheriff’s office has said that Bates accidentally shot Harris because he mistook his handgun for a taser while trying to help subdue Harris. At one point in the interview, anchor Matt Lauer asked Bates to stand up and show where he keeps his taser in relation to his handgun when he’s on duty. Bates demonstrated that he keeps his taser inside his protective vest on his chest, while he keeps his handgun on his side near his hip.
Lauer also asked Bates, a wealthy 73-year-old insurance executive who is close to the sheriff, to respond to the characterization that he paid to play a cop.
“That is unbelievably unfair,” Bates responded. “I have donated equipment as I saw fit when the need happened to arise to allow the task force and other areas of the sheriff’s office to better do their jobs on the streets of Tulsa.”
The deputy apologized to Harris’ family and described the killing as “the second worst thing that’s ever happened to me. Or first.” He compared it to when he found out he was diagnosed with cancer.
Watch below via NBC News:
well, presumably with all those hours of required training, there are several instructors willing to come forward to confirm his claims… not to mention sign-in sheets at the facility providing the training. problem solved.
With the anniversary of Bundy in the air, I won’t be surprised if next he starts telling us everything he knows about the Negroes.
“That is not correct,” Bates said on NBC’s “Today,” adding that he has proof of his training “in writing.”
Right, I’m pretty sure that’s what’s being challenged here…the ‘in writing’ part.
Took less than a week before he started talking about how hard this was for him. And Mr. Bates? Natural disasters “happen” to people. This isn’t the worst thing to happen to you: it’s the worst thing you’ve ever done in your life, and everyone knows about it.
Meanwhile, Eric Harris is still dead.
To be honest, I am not entirely sure individual justice will be served by convicting this man of manslaughter. It was clearly an unintended act and he should never have had any sort of weapon, let alone a lethal weapon. From my point of view where the justice system should chiefly be used as rehabilitation and deterrence, nothing is accomplished by his incarceration. It’s the Sheriff whose head I want on a figurative pike, along with the “fuck your breath” officers.
On the other hand, there’s a limit to the criminal liability which could fall on the Sheriff’s department even in theory, and people deserve to know that someone who bears a significant share of the guilt will be punished for this horrible crime, when so many have not in recent months.
I just feel like the prosecutors are going to use him as a convenient scapegoat to avoid local government taking a good, long, hard look at the Sheriff’s department.