Volunteer deputy heading to Bahamas
Victim’s family says vacation sends wrong message.
— A volunteer TULSA, OKLA. sheriff ’s deputy plans to vacation in the Bahamas while facing a second-degree manslaughter charge in Oklahoma, his attorneys told a judge Tuesday, drawing immediate criticism from the family of the man he killed.
Robert Bates pleaded not guilty during the hearing in Tulsa district court. The 73-year-old former insurance executive has said he confused his handgun for a stun gun when he shot Eric Harris after the suspect ran during an investigation involving gun sales.
Bates’ lawyers told the judge that Bates, a reserve deputy with the Tulsa County sheriff ’s of(ice, and his family planned to take their previously planned vacation ahead of his next court date in July.
“It’s really not an issue,” Corbin Brewster, one of Bates’ attorneys, said after the hearing.
Harris’ family criticized the trip, saying it sends a message “of apathy with respect to the shooting and Eric’s life.”
“At a time when we are still mourning the death of a loved one that he shot down in the street, Mr. Bates will be relaxing and enjoying his wealth and privilege,” the family said in a statement released Tuesday.
Bates was charged after the sheriff ’s of(ice released video of the shooting in which he is overheard apologizing for shooting the suspect.
Harris’ family has questioned whether Bates was quali(ied to conduct police work. Their attorneys allege that the Tulsa County Sheriff ’s Of(ice violated several of its own policies by not keeping a permanent record of Bates’ certi(ications and allowing him to carry his personal handgun after training on another weapon.
But Sheriff Stanley Glanz said Bates had been properly trained and passed annual (irearms certi(ications required by the state.
Bates was trained to be a Tulsa Police Department patrolman in 1964, but he left the department in 1965.
He was out of law enforcement for 35 years before returning for volunteer work in Florida in 2000, and the Tulsa County force in 2008. Bates also made several donations to the Tulsa County sheriff ’s of(ice, and was Glanz’s campaign manager during the 2012 election.