Officer charged in deadly shooting
DA: San Leandro officer’s ‘use of deadly force unreasonable’ in Wal-Mart slaying in April
OAKLAND » A San Leandro police officer has been charged with voluntary manslaughter for the killing of a Black man inside a Wal-Mart store in April, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley announced Wednesday.
Officer Jason Fletcher is the first law enforcement officer in the Bay Area to face charges in the death of a civilian in over a decade, since BART Officer Jo- hannes Mehserle shot and killed Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009.
Steven Taylor was one of 111 people killed by Bay Area law enforcement since 2015 — an outsized number of whom were Black residents, some of them unarmed or, like Taylor, experiencing a mental health crisis. In that time, despite local county prosecutors reviewing more than a hundred cases
of people dying at the hands of police, no other police officer in the region has been found criminally responsible.
O’Malley’s decision also comes after months of civil unrest over police killings of Black Americans in Minneapolis, Kentucky, Atlanta and, most recently, the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In Oakland and San Jose, people have taken to the streets to protests Blake’s killing, as well as that of George Floyd in Minneapolis this spring.
“It’s a long time coming,” said Bay Area civil rights attorney John Burris, who represents numerous families of people killed by police. “It’s important to send a message to all officers who use deadly force, that if you do so in a manner that’s criminal, you will not be protected by the district attorney’s office.”
Fletcher, 49, was the first officer to respond April 18 to a report made by a Wal-Mart security guard of a possible shoplifter holding a baseball bat inside the store at 15555 Hesperian Boulevard.
A probable-cause declaration filed Wednesday said Taylor had grabbed the aluminum bat and a tent before trying to leave without paying.
Moments later, Fletcher entered the store and found the security guard, who pointed out Taylor. Fletcher approached him and tried to grab the bat. When Taylor pulled away, Fletcher drew his gun and told him to drop the bat before firing it twice at Taylor, killing the 33-yearold.
“Mr. Taylor was struggling to remain standing as he pointed the bat at the ground,” an officer said in the declaration. “Mr. Taylor posed no threat of imminent deadly force or serious bodily injury to defendant Fletcher or anyone else in the store.”
Less than 40 seconds passed from Fletcher’s entry until the shooting, according to the officer’s declaration.
In charging Fletcher, O’Malley cited a change in state law that states an officer should use deadly force only when necessary to defend human life. Based on witness statements, physical evidence and a review of multiple videos of the shooting, she said, prosecutors found that it was not reasonable to conclude Taylor posed an imminent threat of death or great bodily injury to Fletcher or to anyone else in the store at the time of the shooting.
“I believe Officer Fletcher’s actions, coupled with his failure to attempt other de-escalation options rendered his use of deadly force unreasonable and a violation of Penal Code Section 192(a), Voluntary Manslaughter,” O’Malley said in a statement.
In an interview with this newspaper Wednesday, Taylor’s grandmother, Addie Kitchen, described her grandson as a boy she raised and loved and “a good kid.” As an adult, she said, he made some choices that she didn’t agree with; then, he became homeless “and was murdered by the police.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s justice; it’s the right thing to do,” Kitchen said. “The justice is when he’s convicted and sent to prison.”
Fletcher became an officer in 1994 with the UC Berkeley Police Department, where he worked for eight years. He then spent two years as a Fairfield police officer, leaving in 2004, according to state records. In 2006, he joined San Leandro police. Neither he nor an attorney representing him could be reached Wednesday evening.
In June, San Leandro city officials unanimously called for the state attorney general’s officer to join the investigation and later voted 4-3 to cut $1.7 million from the department’s budget.
Later that month, more than a hundred community members joined Taylor’s mother and grandmother in a protest outside police headquarters.
A co-founder of the grassroots group Anti Police Terror Project, which recently opened a mental health crisis hotline for people who do not wish to call the police, said she was “stunned” by the decision to charge Fletcher.
“Not because I don’t think the cop deserved to be charged,” the activist, Cat Brooks, said. “I never in a million years thought Nancy O’Malley would charge an officer because she never has, regardless of how egregious the murders were. I credit less the evolution of her ideology or heart. Without question, there’s no way you can look at the video and not see the cop violated the new use of force (statute). I don’t think she had a choice other than to charge this cop.”
In a statement, O’Malley said, “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. When there is use of force by a police officer that results in death, the District Attorney’s Office conducts an independent and thorough investigation of the facts.”
San Leandro police Chief Jeff Tudor, whose department refused to identify Fletcher citing unspecified threats to his safety, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, saying he knows “the loss of Steven Taylor has deeply affected this community.” Tudor said.
“It is important that we allow the judicial process to take its course,” the chief said, referring all questions to the District Attorney’s Office.
Fletcher faces arraignment Sept. 15 in Dublin’s East County Hall of Justice. He was not listed in jail custody, according to a county records check Wednesday afternoon.