Tulsa County taxpayers have foot the bill for more than $143,000 related to the April 2 shooting of Eric Harris by former reserve sheriff’s deputy Robert Bates.
The county has spent money on an outside agency’s review of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office, a grand jury investigation, the legal fees for Sheriff Stanley Glanz’s successful effort to block that panel, and legal fees for Bates.
Bates has been charged with second-degree manslaughter after shooting Harris, who was unarmed. Bates says he mistook his service revolver for his stun gun as other deputies restrained Harris, who fled during a drug sting.
The #31,956 in fees for Bates’ legal counsel mostly came before Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler filed charges. Bates paid for his defense out of his own pocket after being charged.
The costs could rise even higher, according to The Tulsa World:
That total jumps to about $185,000 when an estimated cost for reserve deputies not working the 2015 Tulsa State Fair is added in. The reserve program was indefinitely suspended in May in the wake of the Harris shooting. . . . The figures don’t include the yet-to-be-determined cost of a special election to pick a sheriff to fill Glanz’s unfinished seventh term. Election expenses are evenly shared among entities holding votes on a given date, with election board officials stating countywide elections cost well more than $100,000. More legal billings are yet to be released regarding Glanz’s fight to toss out the grand jury petition that sought to investigate operations of his office as part of a grassroots effort to oust him. Additionally, a pending civil rights lawsuit against Glanz and others seeks in excess of $75,000 in punitive damages for each of three plaintiffs, two of whom are tied to Bates. A third plaintiff is unrelated to Bates.
KGOU is a community-supported news organization and relies on contributions from readers and listeners to fulfill its mission of public service to Oklahoma and beyond. Donate online, or by contacting our Membership department.