Eric Harris is just another man gunned down by a police officer… a reserved police officer… with the incident caught on camera.
Harris was involved in an undercover drug operation when things went south. The video shows him exiting a car and running away, being chased by police officers and Robert Bates, a 74 year old millionaire, who volunteered as a reserved cop. On the video, Harris is caught by one of the officers and is on the ground when the 74 year old apparently went for his taser and pulled his gun instead, shooting and eventually killing Harris.
“He shot me!” Harris yelled, before he died. “He shot me, man. Oh, my god. I’m losing my breath.”
“Fuck your breath,” another officer is heard yelling on the video.
Harris’ brother Andre spoke with CNN and explained his frustration.
“It was a situation where I didn’t necessarily think that a taser should even be used,” Harris said on New Day. “As you see the footage that was three or four, maybe five people on him. We hadn’t seen the whole tape so I’m not exactly sure how many people are on him. But there was enough people on top of my brother, knees on his head, to not even have to use a taser. For it to be that many people around him and him go to use a taser really didn’t make any sense.”
“And then with the taser being yellow and on his chest, for him to shoot my brother with a .357 makes no sense to me,” Harris said. “It was overkill.” Harris added he was pleased to see charges brought against Bates.
Video – Warning! Graphic Content.
