Reports surfaced, noting that a white police officer in Northern California has been charged with felony manslaughter after the fatal shooting of a Black man in Walmart. The shooting is a crime under a new California law that requires police officers to use deadly force only when needed to defend human life, according to the county prosecutor.
49-year-old San Leandro police officer Jason Fletcher was charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 33-year-old Steven Taylor, which went down in April 2020. This came after the officer and Taylor got into an altercation of a baseball bat inside of the Walmart in Northern California.
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley spoke on the incident, saying prosecutors determined Taylor did not pose an immediate threat to the police when Jason Fletcher shot him to death. San Leandro police chief Jeff Tudor said the cop “was placed on leave after the incident and has been the entire time.” The arraignment for Fletcher is set to take place on September 15.
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