“Oh, I shot him. I’m sorry.”
– Robert Bates, a 73-year-old reserve deputy sheriff in Tulsa County, Okla., after he mistook his gun for his taser and fatally shot a suspect during an undercover operation.
Not for nothing, but the 73 year old(!) volunteer policeman was only an actual cop for one year….. fifty years ago.
Maybe having geriatric non-cops with lethal weapons is a bad idea.
BONUS QUOTE:
The same incident. The man, Eric Harris, falls to his knees after being (ooops!) shot. “Oh my God, I’m losing my breath” he says. Then the deputy’s knee pins his head to the asphalt. And we hear an officer say:
“Fuck your breath”
Watch the video.
Why in the hell is a 73 year old man who isn’t even a real cop on the Violent Crimes Task Force, you might ask?
Money. Because part of our glibertarian conservative paradise is not wanting to raise taxes, ever, for anything, so municipalities are strapped for cash because no politician has the nerve to ever raise taxes for anything. Even vital functions, or things that you would think would be vital, like the FUCKING VIOLENT CRIMES TASK FORCE.
So instead of raising taxes, the institute programs and policies to soak the poor and those who can’t fight back (like Ferguson), rely on civil forfeiture (like everywhere), and take donations from wealthy clowns so they can go play Dirty Harry. And, if they’re lucky, get to live out their biggest fantasies.
Oh, and there is no mandatory retirement age for the Utah Highway Patrol- I called and asked. Yet another reason we can’t find good jobs for younger people, the fact that people are living longer and not quitting their jobs. But this makes no damned sense whatsoever for police, especially in the fucking VIOLENT CRIMES TASK FORCE.
UPDATE: 4:00 pm (EST) — Robert Bates, the 73 year old volunteer deputy, has been charged with second degree manslaughter. Good. And the Harris family should sue his ass as well.