The FBI cleared an Oklahoma sheriff’s deputy of violating a suspect’s civil rights in the case of a Tulsa County reserve deputy fatally shooting an unarmed man after the volunteer grabbed his revolver instead of his stun gun, the sheriff said Monday. But it remains unclear if 73-year-old Robert Bates was qualified to use the gun he fired April 2, killing 44-year-old Eric Harris, said Sheriff Stanley Glanz.
Bates, a wealthy insurance executive who has known Glanz for 25 years on both a professional and personal level, faces a second-degree manslaughter charge for accidentally killing Harris during a gun-and-drug buy sting. A report by the Tulsa World found that supervisors falsified training records for Bates, a deep-pocketed donor who has supplied the department with cars and electronic equipment during his seven years as a volunteer reserve deputy.
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