Reserve Deputy Robert "Bob" Bates
On Monday afternoon, after an intense few days of public pressure, Deputy Bob Bates was
charged with second degree manslaughter in the shooting death of 44-year-old Eric Harris.
The video of Eric Harris being shot and struggling to breathe went viral, in great part, because the officer squashing his head onto the ground told Harris, "Fuck your breath," before Harris eventually died of his injuries. About as minor of an offense as one could have in a shooting death, Bates could end up just paying a fine of $1,000.
In a public statement, District Attorney Steven Kunzweiler said:
"Mr. Bates is charged with Second-Degree Manslaughter involving culpable negligence. Oklahoma law defines culpable negligence as 'the omission to do something which a reasonably careful person would do, or the lack of the usual ordinary care and caution in the performance of an act usually and ordinarily exercised by a person under similar circumstances and conditions."