Police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shot and killed an unarmed black man in the back in what seems like an all-too-common occurrence.
Police described the shooting as an “accident,” reported the New York Daily News, which posted a video of the incident. The video can be seen below (warning - disturbing content):
The suspect shot in the case was identified as Eric Harris. “He shot me! He shot me, man. Oh, my god. I’m losing my breath,” he said in the video just moments before he died on April 2. The other officer says in the video: “You [expletive] ran. Shut the [expletive] up.”
Reserve Deputy Robert Bates, 73, was trying to user his Taser but instead pulled out his gun and fired. “Taser! Taser!” he said. “Oh. I shot him!” he said. “I’m sorry.”
The shooting went down as the deputy was subduing Harris on the ground.
The encounter was captured on camera and was released by Tulsa Police over the weekend.
Harris, 44, was accused of trying to sell an illegal gun to an undercover officer before he ran, reported The Associated Press. Harris was treated by medics on the scene and later died in a hospital.
According to CNN, Harris was a “possibly PCP-addled felon who had days prior sold methamphetamine to an undercover officer.”
Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clark told CNN: “These are mistakes that are made when you think you are doing one thing but you actually are doing another, and the result often is directly opposite of what you intended. In effect, your intended behavior slips off the path that you want it to go because it is captured by a stronger response and sent to a different direction.”
