Police volunteer denies shooting dead suspect who was pinned to the ground
A 73-year-old police volunteer who fatally shot a suspect who was pinned down by fellow officers has pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter.
Robert Bates made his initial court appearance in Tulsa District Court, Oklahoma, and declined to comment to reporters.
The Tulsa County reserve deputy says he shot Eric Harris on April 2 after confusing his stun gun and handgun. Mr Harris died after running from a sting operation involving gun sales.
The district attorney charged Bates over the death after the sheriff’s office released video of the shooting in which Bates is heard apologising for the shooting.
A lawyer for Mr Harris’s family said the sheriff’s office violated a number of internal policies by letting Bates carry his personal handgun.
His next court date is scheduled for July 2.
In separate news conferences, the county sheriff and lawyers for Mr Harris's family disagreed on whether the reserve officer should have been allowed to conduct police work.
Sheriff Stanley Glanz said Bates, his long-time insurance agent and former campaign manager, had been properly trained and passed annual firearms certifications required by the state.
Dan Smolen, a lawyer for Mr Harris’s family, said Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office failed to keep a permanent record of Bates’s training, in violation of local policies.
Records released over the weekend showed that the volunteer officer was trained on a .45, not the weapon used in Mr Harris’s death.
Bates, who sold his insurance business for $6m in 1999, was trained to be a Tulsa Police Department patrolman in 1964 but left in 1965. He was out of law enforcement for 35 years, returning for volunteer work in Florida in 2000 before joining the Tulsa County force in 2008 and making a number of donations to the agency.
Fatal shootings by police officers and other law enforcement agents have become a major issue in the US over the past year. Many of the cases have led to debate about the treatment of black men and boys by law enforcement agencies.
Bates is white and Mr Harris was black. However, Andre Harris, the victim’s brother, has said he does not believe the shooting was racially motivated.
