Video shows deputy shooting Oklahoma man with gun instead of Taser

(Image credit: Twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews)

last updated 13 April 2015

Oklahoma prosecutors are investigating the shooting of an unarmed black man by a sheriff's deputy who said he meant to shoot him with a Taser, but accidentally shot him with a gun.

Video footage of the April 2 incident was released on Friday, and shows Reserve Deputy Robert Bates, 73, yelling, "Taser! Taser!" before firing from his gun. He hit 44-year-old Eric Harris of Tulsa, who was on the ground, pinned underneath officers. Bates then said, "I shot him! I'm sorry!" Harris is heard screaming, "He shot me! He shot me, man. Oh my God. I'm losing my breath." One of the officers replies, "F—k your breath. Shut the f—k up."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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