It is becoming even more evident that the Tulsa County reserve deputy who shot and killed a man by accident after being allowed to participate in a drug sting had absolutely no training, despite prior claims from the sheriff, whom he fed with donations and vacations.
Robert Bates not only lavished Sheriff Stanley Glanz with gifts and trips, [**reported Tulsa World,**](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/article_a6330f10-a9fb-51e3-ab5e-4d97b03c6c04.html) but the sheriff ordered Bates’ supervisors to falsify his training records, giving him credit for training he never received.
As a result, the 73-year-old insurance executive pulled out a gun and shot a man, thinking it was a taser.
Bates has since been charged with second-degree manslaughter, the last thing he expected when he signed up for the “pay to play” police program where he donated five automobiles to the sheriff’s office from 2009 to 2011 along with surveillance gear.
> Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify a reserve deputy’s training records, giving him credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received, sources told the Tulsa World.
> At least three of reserve deputy Robert Bates’ supervisors were transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the World.
> The sources’ claims are corroborated by records, including a statement by Bates after the shooting, that he was certified as an advanced reserve deputy in 2007.
> Additionally, Sheriff Stanley Glanz told a Tulsa radio station this week that Bates had been certified to use three weapons, including a revolver he fired at Harris. However, Glanz said the Sheriff’s Office has not been able to find the paperwork on those certifications.
> The sheriff’s deputy that certified Bates has moved on to work for the Secret Service, Glanz said during the radio interview.
Coming under national pressure for his cronyism approach to deputizing, Sheriff Glanz [**released the names of the two deputies**](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/article_5e492153-5a2a-55c4-9fee-afc92dbd3a4d.html) who were holding Eric Harris down when he was shot by Bates, including the one who said “Fuck Your Breath” when Harris said he was losing his breath.
That deputy is Joseph Byars, pictured below from a 2008 photo by [**Leonardo Carrizo**](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/I00009mb3wAQLVx0?hc_location=ufi).
The deputy kneeling on Harris’ head is Mike Huckeby, pictured below as a scrawny uniformed deputy before hitting the gym and the selfies. He was the one that most likely yelled at Harris, “you shouldn’t have ran” and “shut the fuck up.”
The photos were obtained by the Twitter channel [**@theblackchannel**](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/TheBlackChannel), which also compiled the wanted poster below.
Sheriff Glanz said the two deputies continued yelling at Harris after he had been shot because they did not hear the gunshot, even though it should have left their ears ringing.
Glanz explained that Byars was under the impression that Harris was winded from running when he said, “I’m losing my breath,” which is why he responded with “Fuck your breath.”
Glanz also defended Bates, his buddy, former campaign manager and [**“Sugar Daddy”**](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/tulsa-shooter-was-sheriff-s-sugar-daddy.html) as having made “an error” comparable to one committed in an operating room.
And that is not hard to visualize if you can imagine doctors allowing unqualified and untrained crony buddies to conduct heart transplants.
