Oklahoma Cop Who Shot and Killed Eric Harris Charged With Second Degree Manslaughter

The retired Oklahoma Police Officer, Bob Bates, who shot and killed Eric Harris in a sting operation has been charged with Second Degree Manslaughter. 

In the wake of the Walter Scott shooting and killing in South Carolina, stories began to surface of a similar police shooting but this time in Oklahoma. A retired officer, Bob Bates, claims to have accidentally shot and killed Eric Harris in an undercover gun deal on April 2.

Harris had been under surveilance by police for the suspicion of illegally selling weapons. Agents were in the middle of an undercover deal to catch Harris in the act of selling the guns but Harris fled the scene after becoming suspicious.

In an attempt to disable Harris from fleeing, Bates reached for his taser but grabbed his gun instead, discharging the weapon and "accidentally" killing Eric Harris. "I'm losing my breath," Harris began to say after beginning to succumb to his gunshot wound. The saddest part is to hear other officers on the scene tell Harris (who was dying at this point), "F*** your breath."

Sources report that Bates has officially been charged with 2nd Degree Manslaughter.

“Mr. Bates is charged with Second-Degree Manslaughter involving culpable negligence,” said District Attorney Stephen Kunzweiler. “Oklahoma law defines culpable negligence as ‘the omission to do something which a reasonably careful person would do, or the lack of the usual ordinary care and caution in the performance of an act usually and ordinarily exercised by a person under similar circumstances and conditions,’” Kunzweiler said.“The defendant is presumed to be innocent under the law but we will be prepared to present evidence at future court hearings,” he said.