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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Tulsa Undersheriff Resigns Amid Uproar

TULSA (CN) - The Tulsa County Sheriff's second-in-command has resigned for allegedly demanding preferential treatment for the volunteer reserve deputy who later killed a suspect after mistaking his gun for a Taser.

Sheriff Stanley Glanz announced Monday the resignation of Undersheriff Tim Albin, a 20-year veteran of the force. His resignation is effective at the end of the week

Robert Bates, a volunteer reserve deputy and insurance agent, faces manslaughter charges after a body camera recorded him mistakenly shooting to death an unarmed black suspect, Eric Courtney Harris, on April 2. Bates is white.

The footage shows Harris running away from deputies as they pull up to his vehicle. He is chased down, held to the ground and a single gunshot is heard. Bates immediately apologizes as Harris screams that he has been shot. An officer is heard saying, "Fuck your breath," as Harris screams he is losing his breath.

If convicted, Bates faces up to four years in state prison.

Glanz told the Tulsa County Board of Commissioners he has looked inside his office the find "what we could have done better and need to do differently" since Harris' death.

"As a result of my own examination, I believe it is time for a change in my leadership team," Glanz said. "Given the gravity of the current situation and the need to go in a different direction without leadership and management, [Albin] agrees with me that it is time for a change."

In a 2009 interoffice memo disclosed on April 24, sheriff's office investigators detail the findings of a special investigation into whether Bates was treated any differently than other reserve deputies and if any employees were pressured into helping Bates in that regard.

Corporal Warren Crittenden told investigators he felt pressured by Albin and another officer towards the end of Bates' field training that the training must be completed by a certain time.

Albin and the other officer "came to him and told him that Bates needed to complete 320 hours of the program, although he knew the policy stated 480 hours of training," the 13-page report stated. "That Captain [Tom] Huckeby was aggressively/forceful in telling him 'this will be done,' referring to the training timeline."

Crittenden signed the documents because "he was afraid of trouble" such as a transfer if he did not comply.

"I would have asked him to do remedial training after the 328 hours ... he deals with people and geography ok ... but not really good at traffic stops or operations," Crittenden stated. "When asked if Bates was capable of functioning in the field, Crittenden stated 'Nope.'"

Sergeant Randy Chapman told investigators that Bates became a reserve deputy without his knowledge. Chapman was reserve coordinator and "should have known this." He said that he notified Albin that Bates was driving a personally-owned car with police equipment in violation of policy, among other things, and that Albin told him to "just let it go."

Chapman said that when he confronted Bates about stopping cars on his own without the required training, Bates purportedly responded negatively and told him to talk to Albin or Glanza because he was going to keep doing it.

Chapman said that when he spoke to Albin about Bates, Albin said "I'm tired of you fucking with this guy and I'm tired of your shit ... you're dicking with Bates ... you need to stop messing with him because he does a lot of good for the county."

Wealthy donors are among the office's 130 reserve deputies, Glanz said shortly after Harris' death. Bates donated several vehicles, guns and stun guns since he became a reserve deputy in 2008.

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