Posted on 04/13/2015 12:41:00 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
In America's latest police shooting white millionaire volunteer Bob Bates, 73, says he shot dead black suspect Eric Harris after accidentally using his gun instead of a Taser
A white septuagenarian police reservist who gunned down an unarmed black suspect has been cleared of wrongdoing by his force in the latest fatal shooting to shock America.
Bob Bates, 73, a millionaire insurance executive, was accused by the victim's family of being a "pay to play cop" who was allowed to go along on police operations after he donated equipment, including cars and guns, to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Department in Oklahoma.
Mr Bates had also been the chairman of the Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz's election campaign in 2012.
He became involved in a chase for suspected drug dealer and weapons supplier Eric Harris, 44, on a suburban street near a Tulsa supermarket on April 2.
By the time he caught up Mr Harris was already subdued on the ground by other officers but Mr Bates fired a single shot.
In a video of the incident, recorded on a camera attached to another officer's sunglasses, Mr Bates could then be heard saying: "Oh, I shot him. I'm sorry."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Probably.
And it’s too bad, because it certainly looks like there is a legitimate problem with the way that police department is handling this. But, Sharpton and his ilk will inject so much race-hatred and idiotic invective in to the case that I will be tempted to side with the department and the wanna-be cop.
Not sure what Harris was whining about - at least they didn't go all San Bernardino on him... /s
“...Bob Bates, 73, a millionaire insurance executive...”
Not anymore.
The dept may have found no wrongdoing, but the wanna-be has apparently been charged with 2nd-degree manslaughter nonetheless, if Twitter is anything to go by.
Some other cops need some retraining firing.
No amount of retraining would be enough to trust those thugs with a gun and badge ever again.
“Might wanna subtract one or two from those multi-millions by the time the Harris family lawyer gets finished...”
According to what I was arrogantly taught by an alleged freeper on another thread a few days ago, the family in this case DOES have a right to sue and are NOT greedy opportunists, because the offending cop does have money and can be held liable. Otherwise, as the logic went, it would only be the taxpayers who would pay, so the family wouldn’t deserve anything.
Shaking my head (without an acronym)...
Not anymore.
Yup. Actual police officers can usually assert qualified immunity to shield themselves from personal liability in cases like this. I don't know that a pay-to-play reserve officer will be able to do the same.
still scratchin my head... why shoot a guy who is already dead ?
That’s been my thought this whole time too and it’s never mentioned. What’s wrong with selling someone a 9mm? That’s what they said this guy did. That’s not against the law is it?
Having or selling a gun should not be a crime; even for criminals.
Putting oneself into the position of the police being the judge, jury, and executioner is not too smart. Interesting how certain groups of people, a sub-culture of all groups continues to play this very dangerous game. It’s a self fulfilling situation.
They said it was an “undercover”. Maybe the cop said “hey I’m a felon can I buy a gun from you?”
Musta been feeling his Viagra.
Wouldn’t surprise me.
I feel sorry for the old man. Obviously, he was just trying to help out by “sort of” covering the guy while the other cops subdued him. Obviously too, he “apparently” just got excited or the adrenalyn was flowing and he pulled the trigger accidentally.
Nonetheless, a man is dead that shouldn’t be and “I’m sorry” just doesn’t cut it.
This is so abysmyally stupid and un-necessary that it is hard to even comment on.
While I’m at it, I feel sorry for the victim’s family too. The crime he was alledgedly being pursued for should not have involved him getting shot dead.
“... pay-to-play reserve officer ...”
Until I read about this incident, I never knew that kind of thing even existed. I knew about reserves, but not pay-to-play.
My son did ‘ride alongs’. He wore a vest and was never permitted a weapon. He didn’t speak to anyone (except the policemen when they were in the car).
He was a civilian observer.
What this damn department was doing is beyond my imagining. That old man never should’ve been out there and armed.
“Bob Bates, 73, a millionaire insurance executive” and pay-for-policy constituent. It would be interesting to see a list of the rest of them.
Such safaris have been conducted for at least more than a couple of decades. The pecuniary benefits can be enticing indeed.
I suppose if he was sworn in and had some level of training beforehand, he may be able to get home free. But I suspect the LEO are circling the wagons on this one.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.