Bob Bates, a Tulsa, Okla., reserve deputy, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter for killing unarmed black suspect Eric Harris earlier this month.

Bob Bates, Tulsa Deputy, Charged

Bates, 73, a successful insurance executive by day, who served as a reserve deputy on the side, participated in a sting operation in Tulsa on April 2 that turned deadly when he allegedly mistook his gun for a taser. In the sting, Harris had grown suspicious of the undercover cop to whom he was illegally selling a gun and attempted to make a run for it. As one of the officers who chased Harris down on foot, Bates took action and ended up shooting Harris, who later died of his injuries.

“Mr. Bates is charged with second-degree manslaughter involving culpable negligence,” said District Attorney Stephen Kunzwieler. “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.'”

In a video recorded from one of the arresting officer’s body cams, Bates can be heard saying, “Oh, I shot him. I’m sorry.” Throughout the video, Harris can be heard shouting that he has been shot and that he cannot breathe. In response, an arresting officer that was not Bates is heard yelling, “Shut the f–k up!” and “F–k your breath.”

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Offices has defended Bates, backing his claim that shooting Harris with a gun instead of a taser was an accident, and that he should not be charged with a crime, reported CBS News.

Bates, who worked for the Tulsa Police Department for one year in the 1960s, has been a longtime benefactor of the sheriff’s office. Over the years, he has donated such provisions as vehicles and equipment, including a $5,000 fingerprint extraction machine.