Robert Bates, a white reserve deputy in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting Eric Harris, who was unarmed and pinned down by multiple police officers, during an April 2 sting operation, Tulsa World reported. Bates, a 73-year-old reserve deputy, yelled that he was going to use his Taser, before he fired a single shot from his actual gun. Immediately after firing, Bates shouted, "I shot him! I'm sorry." Harris then exclaimed, "He shot me. He shot me. Oh my god. I'm losing my breath." Police officers responded, "You shouldn't have fucking ran!" and "Fuck your breath!" Bates isn't an active member of the police force, Tulsa World's Dylan Goforth reported. He's an insurance executive who volunteers during his free time as a reserve deputy, which is made up of about 130 people total. Many of the people in the reserve, including Bates, also donate equipment to the sheriff's office, including guns, stun guns, vehicles, and even the sunglasses cameras that recorded the shooting. —Vox.com
These Days
You need not
necessarily be
a Real police officer
to be One.
Millionaire
Insurance Company
Executives
Can pay to
Ride around Playing cop
in Tulsa Oklahoma
and in lots of other Cities,
with Guns
and Tasers too!
And if you happen to have
the understandable misfortune
to reach for the wrong weapon,
Due To your lack of training,
And you grab the Gun
(which you thought was
a Taser)
and Shoot and Kill
another
Unarmed Black man,
Maybe you can beat the rap
So long as you mind your manners
are courteous
and say:
Oh, I shot him. I'm sorry.
But it likely
will not help your case
if a Real Deputy
on the scene
says to the Bleeding
Dying Man
You fucking ran. Shut the fuck up.
Gil Hoy is a regular contributor to The New Verse News. He is a Boston trial lawyer and studied poetry at Boston University, majoring in philosophy. Gil started writing his own poetry and fiction a year ago. Since then, his poems and fiction have been published in multiple journals, most recently in Third Wednesday, Stepping Stones Magazine, The Potomac and The Zodiac Review.