A reserve deputy in Oklahoma is facing manslaughter charges after fatally shooting an unarmed suspect while on the ground at officer's feet.

Robert Charles "Bob" Bates, a 74-year-old reserve deputy, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter for the death of Eric Courtney Harris on April 2. He had allegedly mistaken his handgun for a Taser.

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A dramatic video of the shooting was released showing Harris getting in a vehicle of an undercover officer to try to sell him a gun. But Harris tried to escape just as more officers arrived to arrest him.

A brief chase ensued until an officer was able to grab Harris and pin him on the ground. A gun shot was heard, followed by an officer, identified as Bates, saying "Oh I shot him. I'm sorry."

"Mr. Bates is charged with Second-Degree Manslaughter involving culpable negligence," District Attorney Stephen Kunzweiler explained. "Oklahoma law defines culpable negligence as 'the omission to do something which a reasonably careful person would do, or the lack of the usual ordinary care and caution in the performance of an act.'"

Authorities said Bates never intended to kill Harris. According to Maj. Shannon Clark of the Tulsae County Sheriff's Office, the shooting was "inadvertent" and that Bates was not expecting a recoil when he fired he gun.

Clark said Bates belongs to the advanced level of reserved deputies who work with the violent crimes task force. Bates is Taser certified and is trained to use the pepper ball gun and other devices that are less lethal, according to a statement released by the Sheriff's Office.

The video was released at the request of the Harris family, though they claim the clip was heavily edited.  The family expressed deep sadness and shock on the police' version of the incident.

The incident with the Tulsa deputy triggered public outcry amid a series of cases involving the death of black men in the hands of white police officers. The most controversial incidents include the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Walter Scott in South Carolina.

TagsTulsa deputy, police shooting, Ferguson, manslaughter