--- description: Bates has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Eric Harris title: Oklahoma Deputy Robert Bates Says He Had 'No Desire to Take Anyone's Life' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b7e8804101d4c41/6987ebab3c163962334558ff/robert-bates2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Oklahoma Deputy Robert Bates Says He Had 'No Desire to Take Anyone's Life' by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 17, 2015 2:05 PM CUT  Robert Bates. The 73-year-old Oklahoma reserve sheriff's deputy, who authorities said fatally shot a suspect after confusing his stun gun and handgun, was booked into the county jail on a manslaughter charge in Tulsa, Okla. on April 14, 2015. Robert Bates. The 73-year-old Oklahoma reserve sheriff's deputy, who authorities said fatally shot a suspect after confusing his stun gun and handgun, was booked into the county jail on a manslaughter charge in Tulsa, Okla. on April 14, 2015.Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Sheriff's Office /AP by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 17, 2015 2:05 PM CUT The Oklahoma reserve sheriff’s deputy who says he mistook his gun for a Taser offered an apology on Friday to the family of the unarmed man he shot and killed last week. “I rate this as No. 1 on my list of things in my life that I regret,” the reserve deputy, Robert Bates, [told TODAY](http://www.today.com/news/tulsa-reserve-deputy-robert-bates-falsified-records-report-t15836 "undefined") in his first public remarks since the deadly encounter April 2. Bates has been [charged with second-degree manslaughter](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/deputy-sheriff-robert-bates-surrenders-after-manslaughter-charge-death-eric-n341326 "undefined") in the shooting death of Eric Harris, who bolted from a car after he allegedly tried to sell a semiautomatic pistol to an undercover cop during a sting… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oklahoma-deputy-robert-bates-says-he-had-no-desire-take-n343386?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3826459/roberts-bates-speaks-today-show/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3826459/roberts-bates-speaks-today-show/"},"headline":"Oklahoma Deputy Robert Bates Says He Had 'No Desire to Take Anyone's Life'","datePublished":"2015-04-17T14:05:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:28:43.897Z","description":"Bates has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Eric Harris","url":"https://time.com/3826459/roberts-bates-speaks-today-show/","keywords":["Crime","shooting"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b7e8804101d4c41/6987ebab3c163962334558ff/robert-bates2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b7e8804101d4c41/6987ebab3c163962334558ff/robert-bates2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Robert Bates. The 73-year-old Oklahoma reserve sheriff's deputy, who authorities said fatally shot a suspect after confusing his stun gun and handgun, was booked into the county jail on a manslaughter charge in Tulsa, Okla. on April 14, 2015.","caption":"Robert Bates. The 73-year-old Oklahoma reserve sheriff's deputy, who authorities said fatally shot a suspect after confusing his stun gun and handgun, was booked into the county jail on a manslaughter charge in Tulsa, Okla. on April 14, 2015.","creditText":"Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Sheriff's Office /AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3826459/roberts-bates-speaks-today-show/","name":"Oklahoma Deputy Robert Bates Says He Had 'No Desire to Take Anyone's Life'"}}]}] ```