Officer is charged with voluntary manslaughter over the shooting death of black man, 33, who was wielding a baseball bat inside a Walmart in California

Daily Mail ^ | 3 September 2020 | LAUREN FRUEN

[artichokegrower]

San Leandro police officer Jason Fletcher, 49, was charged on Wednesday Steven Taylor, 33, was shot dead in April in a San Francisco Bay Area Walmart Fletcher had responded to a call about an alleged shoplifter inside the store Officials said he 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

[artichokegrower]

Kinda looks like the guy was going for the police officer with a bat. Sometimes stupid hurts. Wish he had gone after the local DA with a bat instead.

[Sans-Culotte]

Sounded like the cop shot him after he dropped the bat.

[ifinnegan]

Why doesn’t this article say the race of the person shot?

[treetopsandroofs]

If the perp had been white, would the cop have been charged?

Rhetorical — we’ll never know, but have our suspicions.

[gundog]

It’s in the headline

[treetopsandroofs]

It’s in the headline.

[unixfox]

Why doesn’t this article say the race of the person shot?

I'm surprised the headline didn't include that he was black.

[plain talk]

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

Yeah. I’ll bet. The guy was bat sh!t crazy.

[albie]

So now what does Aerosmith do?

[PghBaldy]

“black” is in the headline.

[Truth29]

White cop, black perp. Rule number 1, walk away and let the black man do whatever he wants. Fill out paperwork later. Even better, when the call comes in, ask the race of the perp; if it is black, don’t respond. The new America.

[montag813]

Why did the cop decide this was a mortal threat to anyone? The guy was clearly a wack job. Can’t he wait for backup and just try and talk the moron down? I witnessed a black guy smashing stuff and hitting two duded in a pizza parlor in NYC when I was a kid. The cop who responded said “what the f**k is wrong with you? Cut it out!” And the guy just looked stunned and started complaining that the owner was racist and blah blah because he didn’t let kids hang out there without ordering. He never drew his weapon. He talked him down, and then arrested him...without cuffs. Guy went willingly into the squad car. Now everythings a freaking video game.

[hanamizu]

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

---

It used to be that ‘community’ in this context would mean San Leandro. Today, we all know it means something else.

[DoodleDawg]

It sounds like police need something other than a Taser as their alternative to deadly force. In so many of these cases the cop shoots the guy multiple times and it doesn’t phase them. Are they that ineffective? Or are they not maintained as they should so they lose their potency? Maybe they need to go back to the billy club?

[Dr. Sivana]

Just a not, from those who didn’t notice on the first scan of the article. The charge was yesterday, but the shooting was on April 18, long before all the commotion since then.

I imagine if it weren’t for the rioting, etc., the policeman would not have been charged.

BTW, why don’t the tasers ever seem to do what they are supposed to do?

[I want the USA back]

And if the guy had bashed walmart customers’ heads in with the bat, they would have indicted the cop.

[sport]

That was the way the Police I was raised with worked. They did not mind stopping to have a conversation with you when they were on patrol.

[FatherofFive]

Even better, when the call comes in, ask the race of the perp; if it is black, don’t respond. The new America.

I still like the old America better

[riri]

I guess we are moving to a place where blacks can do ANYTHING they want, any time, any place.

[Major Matt Mason]

Apparently, the police have had to dial down the amps on the tasers because of incidents where a perp suffered heart failure (or a heart attack) when being tased at a higher voltage. So, the tasers are pretty much useless at this point, but I suspect they deploy them anyway to go through the motions. Regardless, as long as blacks continue to ignore or attack the police, they can expect to be shot. They simply do not have a clue how to behave in these situations.