Tulsa Officer Charged with Manslaughter in Death of Eric Courtney Harris

A 73-year-old man who was serving as a "reserve deputy" because he gave generously to a local police department, has been charged with manslaughter after video showing him shooting an unarmed, fleeing suspect went viral.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Robert Bates was charged with second degree murder due to culpable negligence in the death of 44-year-old Eric Courtney Harris. Bates shot Harris as he ran from the site of an undercover sting operation where Harris tried to sell a detective a gun.

In video of the incident, Harris seen running away when Bates shoots him in the back. Bates can be heard saying, "taser," in the video, and claims that he did not mean to use his real gun.

The case has raised a number of questions about policing practices and comes just days after a South Carolina officer was recorded murdering and framing an unarmed black man. That incident coupled with the death of Bates forced many to question the US legal system's unblinking insistence that police statements and testimony can be trusted and used as evidence in court.

This fact has been underscored in recent months by regular stories of people receiving payments of millions of dollars because they were wrongfully imprisoned, often times for decades.

Many people want to know why Bates, at the age of 73, was out and about with officers on duty. The Times notes that Bates seems to be politically connected to Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz. Bates ran Glanz's campaign for the position and also donated cars and other hardware to the police department.

The Times also notes that the Sheriff's office determined a crime had not been committed by Bates, and charges were only brought after a separate investigation by Tulsa County Dist. Atty. Stephen A. Kunzweiler.