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20-year police officer charged in shooting death of Black man in a Walmart

SAN
FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco Bay Area police officer was charged
Wednesday with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a Black
man inside a Walmart store in April.

The charge was filed
Wednesday in the April 18 killing of Steven Taylor, 33, when San Leandro
Police Officer Jason Fletcher, 49, responded to a call about an alleged
shoplifter inside the store who was holding a baseball bat.

A
20-year veteran, Fletcher did not wait for backup and instead tried to
grab the bat from Taylor, then fired his Taser and his service weapon,
all in less than 40 seconds, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy
O’Malley said in a news release.

“Officer Fletcher’s actions,
coupled with his failure to attempt other de-escalation options rendered
his use of deadly force unreasonable,” O’Malley said.

Police
were called to the store by a security guard who reported a possible
robbery. Fletcher, the first officer to arrive, clarified with the
security guard that it was not a robbery, then he relayed that
information through his police radio, prosecutors said.

“Officer
Fletcher did not wait for his cover officer and immediately contacted
Mr. Taylor in the shopping cart area,” they said.

Surveillance
video showed Fletcher pulled out his service pistol at the same time he
tried to take the bat from Taylor. Taylor pulled the bat from Fletcher’s
grasp and stepped away.

Shortly after, Fletcher shot Taylor
twice with his taser. As Taylor struggled to remain standing, Fletcher
shot him in the chest with his service weapon just as another officer
arrived in the store, prosecutors said.

“A thorough review of the
statements of witnesses and involved police officers, physical evidence
and the review of multiple videos of the shooting shows that at the time
of the shooting it was not reasonable to conclude Mr. Taylor posed an
imminent threat of death or great bodily injury to Officer Fletcher or
to anyone else in the store,” O’Malley said.

Taylor’s family has
said that he had mental health issues and the officers should have tried
to de-escalate the situation without firing.

“Yes, he was
homeless. Yes, he had mental issues. Yes, he was Black,” his
grandmother, Addie Kitchen, said at a rally last month for Taylor. “But
does that mean we murder homeless people? That police can kill people
with mental issues? I want to see that nothing like this happens again.”

San Leandro Police Chief Jeff Tudor said in a statement it was
important to allow “the judicial process to take its course” and
referred all questions to the district attorney’s office.

“As the Police Chief of San Leandro, I know the loss of Steven Taylor has deeply affected this community,” Tudor said.

Fletcher is expected to be arraigned Sept. 15.

Statement from San Leandro Police Chief Jeff TudorAs the Police Chief of San Leandro, I know the loss of Steven Taylor…

Posted by San Leandro Police Department on Wednesday, September 2, 2020