Former Tulsa Sheriff Found Guilty Of Violating Elliott Williams’ Civil Rights

Does the name Stanley Glanz ring a bell?  What about the names Eric Harris and Robert Bates?

Robert Bates was a Tulsa, Oklahoma reserve deputy when he was part of a sting operation.  Bates fatally shot unarmed Eric Harris, and said that he mistook his gun for his taser. Eric was restrained when Bates shot him.

On April 2, 2015, a jury found Bates guilty of second-degree manslaughter.  He was sentenced to 4 years in prison.  After serving 497 days, the 76-year-old Bates was released from the North Fork Correctional Center.  He will serve probation for the remainder of his sentence.

In March 2018, Tulsa County agreed to pay a $6 million settlement to Eric Harris estate’s excessive force lawsuit. If you would like to read more about that case and Bate’s trial, please click this link.

Former Tulsa, OK Sheriff Stanley Glanz

So, who is Stanley Glanz?  Glanz was Sheriff of Tulsa.  Eric Harris’ death uncovered a law enforcement agency in disarray.  Glanz and Bates were fishing buddies.  In September 2015, Glanz was indicted for failing to release a 2009 internal report that raised serious concerns about Bates’ ability to do his job. Glanz eventually pleaded no contest and was sentenced to a year of jail time, which was suspended.

Glanz was also named as a defendant in a civil suit filed by the family of Elliott Williams.  Elliott Williams, 37 years old and a veteran, was taken to the Tulsa jail in October 2011 after being arrested in Owasso in the lobby of a Marriott hotel for misdemeanor obstruction of a police officer. Rather than going through the jail’s screening process, Elliott was taken directly to a holding cell.

Shortly after being placed in the cell, Elliott rammed his head into the door and fell to the ground.  An inmate seeing what happened called for help, and Elliott told detention officers he had broken his neck and couldn’t move.

Detention officers did nothing.  Elliott died at the Tulsa Jail on Oct. 27, 2011, after living on the floor of his cell for five days with a broken neck. He was unable to reach food or water. The jail did not send him to the hospital or provide treatment because nurses and the psychiatrist said he was faking paralysis.

Elliott’s family filed a civil lawsuit in 2012.  In 2016, a federal court ruled that the case could proceed.  At trial, former Sheriff Stanley Glanz testified that Elliott didn’t undergo a mental health assessment upon his arrival at the Tulsa Jail because he was “acting up.”  He told jurors that because of Elliott Williams’ behavior, he didn’t have a problem with him not being evaluated.

Glanz also defended his use of racial slurs, saying that they were used by the FBI in written reports in the 1960’s.

Asked how often inmates fail to go through the booking process and lay in their own feces for 10 hours while yelling for help, Glanz responded that it happens “two to three times a week in that facility.” He stated that many are intoxicated and some of the jail staff believed that Elliott was intoxicated.

Joshua Lanter, who oversees the Tulsa branch of the state Medical Examiner’s Office, also testified at the civil trial.  He told jurors that no one at the Sheriff’s Office informed him of Elliott’s complaints of a broken neck and paralysis before his initial autopsy.

Robert Bates Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison

Robert Bates, 74 years old, was a Tulsa, Oklahoma reserve deputy when he was part of a sting operation.  Bates fatally shot unarmed Eric Harris, and said that he mistook his gun for his taser. Eric was restrained when Bates shot him.

A jury has found Bates guilty of second-degree manslaughter.  The jury recommended the maximum sentence of 4 years in prison.  Bates wife has stated that because of his age and health, her husband is likely to die in prison.

(Editorial opinion:  The same conditions applied to Bates when he went on the sting operation with a loaded gun.  Bates could not distinguish where he carried his gun from where he carried his taser, nor that it was unnecessary to employ a taser upon a physically restrained suspect. He should not have been working in that capacity.)

After sentencing, Bates was escorted to the jail, and is expected to be transferred to a state prison next week.

Eric Harris

The shooting was captured on video and lead to investigations about pay to play, questions about training standards for volunteer deputies, and favoritism.  A review found an internal memo questioning Bates’ qualifications as a volunteer deputy and showed that Bates, a close friend of the sheriff’s, had donated thousands of dollars in cash, vehicles and equipment to the sheriff’s office.

A grand jury also investigated and indicted the longtime sheriff, Stanley Glanz, in September 2015, accusing him of failing to release a 2009 memo. He resigned on Nov. 1 2015.

Considering the discoveries and reforms, Eric Harris’ death was not in vain.

 

 

 

 

Robert Bates on Trial For Murdering Eric Harris

Bates and Harris

Trial started this week for Robert Bates, the ex-volunteer reserve sheriff deputy for the Tulsa County, Oklahoma’s Sheriff’s office.

On April 2, 2015, an undercover deputy was conducting a sting operation to catch 44-year old Eric Harris illegally selling a gun.  Bates, who is 73-years old, volunteered to help out.  Eric ran, and upon apprehension and taken to the ground, Bates pulled his gun and shot Eric in the back.

Bates’ defense is that he thought he was taking out and discharging his taser and not his .357.  Bates is charged with 2^nd degree manslaughter. If convicted, he faces up to 4 years in prison.

The killing of Eric Harris resulted in activists organizing.  The actions of We The People resulted in a grand jury investigation into the Tulsa County Sheriff’s office. The grand jury indicted Sheriff Glanz on 2 misdemeanor charges, including one for denying lawful requests of internal investigations into his office’s Reserve Deputy program.  After almost 30 years as Sheriff,  Stanley Glanz resigned.

Tulsa County sheriff to testify before grand jury – Tahlequah Daily Press: News

Caterpillars, moths, butterflies, and all creatures great and small,

I’m trying out the Word Press feature “press this.”  It is a feature where I can copy from a newspaper article and click “press this” and it puts it in a post for the blog, with attribution.  It saves time writing new posts from scratch.   The following is the “press this” article, followed with additional information. 

Posted: Monday, September 21, 2015 11:01 amTULSA (AP) –

Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury investigating the agency after a volunteer deputy fatally shot an unarmed man.  Grand jurors have been conducting a probe of Glanz’s office for the past seven weeks. At least 19 current or former sheriff’s office employees and others have been called upon to testify, including fired Maj. Shannon Clark, demoted Capt. Billy McKelvey and former Maj. Tom Huckeby, the Tulsa World reported.

The investigation was launched after former reserve deputy Robert Bates fatally shot Eric Harris, who was unarmed, on April 2. Bates has said he mistook his hand gun for a stun gun. After the shooting, it was discovered that officer Robert Bates hadn’t received adequate training over the years of his service.

Bates has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death. Glanz confirmed the subpoena Thursday after a swearing-in ceremony for 21 cadets. He declined to comment further on his upcoming grand jury appearance next week.

Tulsa deputies ordered to falsify records of ‘reserve deputy’ who shot and killed Eric Harris

The Fifth Column

attribution: Screenshot of body camera video of Eric Harris

Daily Kos

Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify a reserve deputy’s training records, giving him credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received, sources told the Tulsa World.At least three of reserve deputy Robert Bates’ supervisors were transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the World.

And it gets worse. The certifications have gone missing:

Additionally, Sheriff Stanley Glanz told a Tulsa radio station this week that Bates had been certified to use three weapons, including a revolver he fired at Harris. However, Glanz said the Sheriff’s Office has not been able to find the paperwork on those certifications.The sheriff’s deputy that certified Bates has moved on to work for the Secret Service, Glanz said during the radio…

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