A Bay Area police officer’s been charged with voluntary manslaughter for shooting and killing a black man who was wielding a bat in Walmart.
The San Leandro cop, Jason Fletcher, made no attempt to de-escalate the situation before fatally shooting 33-year-old Steven Demarco Taylor … according to Alameda County District Attorney, Nancy E. O’Malley.
The D.A. claims Taylor didn’t pose an imminent threat of death or great bodily injury to Fletcher or others in the store, and says she made the decision Wednesday to charge the officer with manslaughter.
As we reported … cops responded to the Walmart outside Oakland on the afternoon of April 18, and encountered Taylor with an aluminum bat in his hands.
Police say they used Tasers on him first near the shopping carts area, but video showed he was shot multiple times by either a Taser or a gun … even after he had dropped the bat and fallen limp to the ground.
Prosecutors claim Fletcher did use a stun gun on Taylor first, but then shot him in the chest. The entire encounter lasted roughly 40 seconds.
Following his death, Taylor’s family publicly called for the officer to be charged. Fletcher will be arraigned later this month.