A White officer has been charged with felony manslaughter in the fatal shooting in April of a Black man in a Walmart store.

This is crime alleged under a newly strengthened California law that requires police to use deadly force only when needed to defend human life. San Leandro Police Officer Jason Fletcher, 49, was charged Wednesday with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Steven Taylor, 33, after the pair scuffled over a baseball bat inside the store in the Northern California city, according to officials and court documents. The charge comes amid intense nationwide scrutiny of police conduct following the death and severe injury of a string of Black men while in custody. California lawmakers last year enacted one of the strictest police deadly force measures in the country after a Sacramento prosecutor declined to charge two officers who killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed Black man, in his grandmother’s backyard.

 

During the San Leandro confrontation, Taylor did not pose an immediate threat to police when Fletcher shot him to death, prosecutors determined, said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley.

“The decision to file the criminal complaint was made after an intensive investigation and thorough analysis of the evidence and the current law,” O’Malley said in a statement. “The work of Police Officers is critical to the health, safety, and well-being of our communities. Their job is one of the most demanding in our society, especially in these current challenging times. They are sworn to uphold and enforce the laws.”

A Deadly encounter of Less than 40 Seconds

Fletcher and another officer initially responded on the afternoon of April 18 to a report of an alleged shoplifter holding a baseball bat at the Walmart, according to a probable cause declaration cited by the district attorney’s office. Taylor had been stopped by store security when he tried to leave without paying for the bat and a tent. Fletcher didn’t wait for his cover officer before heading over to Taylor in the shopping cart area, the police document reads. Fletcher tried to grab the bat from Taylor, it states, while pulling out his service pistol. Less than 40 seconds elapsed from the moment Fletcher entered the store to when Taylor hit the floor, it reads. The cause of Taylor’s death was a single gunshot wound to his chest, the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau confirmed. Officer body-camera video released from the incident shows a confrontation, beginning with Taylor holding a bat near the store’s entrance. In the video, Fletcher asks Taylor to put the bat down. When he refuses, Fletcher shoots Taylor with his stun gun. Taylor, still standing, stumbles closer to the officer, who then fires his pistol. Taylor falls to the floor.