Police in Oklahoma said they do not intend to further investigate an incident in which a volunteer, undercover 73-year-old “reserve deputy” mistook his gun for a Taser and shot and killed a suspect who was wrestling on the ground with a sheriff’s deputy, according to a police account.



The reserve deputy, Bob Bates, an insurance executive, told police he thought he was firing his Taser at the suspect, Eric Courtney Harris, 44.

“It was me,” Bates said in an interview on Friday with the Tulsa World. “My attorney has advised me not to comment. As much as I would like to, I can’t.”

Bates did not reply to an emailed request for comment on Sunday, and calls to his workplace were not returned. A call to the supervisor of the Tulsa County reserve deputy program, Tulsa County sergeant Paula Hite, was not returned.

The Tulsa paper quoted homicide sergeant Dave Walker as saying on Friday that police “would not investigate the death unless the sheriff’s office asked them to”.

“And they have not asked us to,” Walker told the World.

The shooting occurred after Harris, a convicted felon, sold ammunition and at least one gun to undercover officers, according to a police report. The report said officers had previously bought methamphetamine from Harris.

After the gun transaction, officers attempted to place Harris under arrest, the police report said, but he ran away. A deputy got into a struggle with Harris that “went to the ground”, the report said. It said “his hand was near his waistband”.

“During the rapidly evolving altercation, the reserve deputy had what he believed was his Taser from his tactical carrier and attempted to render aid in subduing the suspect,” the report continued.

“Initial reports have determined that the reserve deputy was attempting to use less lethal force, believing he was utilizing a Taser, when he inadvertently discharged his service weapon, firing one round which struck Harris.”

Harris was taken to a hospital, where he died, the report said.

Bates was reserve deputy of the year in 2011, according to the county sheriff’s website. The reserve deputy program provides “trained civilian volunteers to augment the manpower” of the sheriff’s office, according to the site. Tulsa County has 130 reserve deputies, according to local Fox News.

Tulsa is a city of about 400,000 people in the northeast corner of the state.