Shooter, 73, a 'pay to play cop'

Tulsa County police restrain Eric Harris before he was shot by a reserve sheriff's deputy. Photo / AP

The shooting by an elderly white police reservist of an unarmed black suspect has raised questions about the use of volunteer officers to supplement full-time police.

Bob Bates, 73, a millionaire insurance executive, was accused by the victim's family of being a "pay to play cop" who was allowed to go on police operations after he donated equipment, including cars and guns, to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Department in Oklahoma. He was charged yesterday with second-degree manslaughter involving "culpable negligence" for the death of Eric Harris.

It was the latest in a string of fatal shooting by officers in America.

Bates had been chairman of the election campaign of Stanley Glanz, the Tulsa county sheriff, in 2012.

He became involved in a chase for Harris, 44, a suspected drug dealer and weapons supplier.

By the time he caught up, Harris was held on the ground by other officers but Bates fired a single shot.

In a video recorded on a camera attached to another officer's sunglasses, Bates could then be heard saying: "Oh, I shot him. I'm sorry."

The millionaire said he meant to use his Taser, not his .38-calibre pistol.

Harris' family later said: "Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of all of this is the inhumane and malicious treatment of Eric after he was shot. These deputies treated Eric as less than human."