Tulsa officer who fatally shot Eric Harris ‘regrets’ using gun instead of Taser

Robert Bates, the Tulsa reserve deputy charged with second-degree manslaughter who says he thought he was reaching for his Taser but reached instead for his gun, on Friday apologised to the family of the man he killed.

Bates, a 73-year-old insurance executive, appeared on NBC’s Today show, accompanied by his family and lawyer.

“First and foremost,” he said, “let me apologise to the family of Eric Harris. This is the second-worst thing to ever happen to me – or first.”

He explained: “I’ve had cancer a number of years ago, I didn’t think I was going to get there. Luckily, I was able to go to a hospital where I had hours of surgery. I rate this as No 1 on my list of things in my life that I regret.”

Harris, who was 44, died in hospital after a sting operation involving the illegal sale of firearms went wrong. Video of the incident – in which Bates can be heard to shout “Taser!” and, after a single gunshot, say “I shot him, I’m sorry” – was released to the public last weekend.

Harris’s brother, Andre, said on Monday he did not believe the shooting had “anything to do with race”, like others around the US recently involving white police officers and unarmed black men, which have led to sustained controversy, protest and debate over police attitudes towards racial minorities.

On Thursday, in response to calls from politicians and civil-liberties campaigners for an independent investigation, a spokesman for Tulsa County sheriff’s office said it would conduct an internal review of its reserve deputy programme.

On NBC on Friday, Bates, who has donated money and equipment to the Tulsa sheriff’s department, disputed a report by Tulsa World that supervisors at the sheriff’s office were told to forge his training records.

“That is unbelievably unfair,” he said. “I have donated equipment as I saw fit, when the need happened to arise to allow the task force and other areas of the sheriff’s office to better do their jobs on the streets of Tulsa.”

He said he had completed the required training and added: “That is absolutely the truth. I have it in writing.”

When questioned by Today host Matt Lauer, Bates said accidental shootings by police officers meaning to use stun guns had “happened a number of times around the country”.

“I have read about it in the past,” he said. “I thought to myself after reading several cases, ‘I don’t understand how this could happen.’ You must believe me, it can happen to anyone.”

Most famously, Oakland police officer Johannes Mehserle said he had meant to use his Taser when he shot dead Oscar Grant on New Year’s day in 2009. Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in an incident that inspired the 2013 film Fruitvale Station.

“The laser light is the same on each weapon,” Bates told NBC. “I saw the light and I squeezed the trigger and then realized and I dropped the gun. This was not an intentional thing. I had no desire to ever take anyone’s life.”

Bates added: “I never considered the repercussions of what I had just done. It was shock, I can tell you it stayed with me for a number of days. I’m not at all sure it’s not still with me today – lack of sleep, inability to concentrate – all of those plus more. I still can’t believe it happened.”