Black man named Steven Taylor killed by police inside San Leandro Walmart

Source: Ilkay Dede / EyeEm / Getty

If you thought that police would be kinder and gentler because of the coronavirus then you got another think comin’.

A San Leandro officer shot and killed 33-year-old Steven Taylor inside of a Bay Area Walmart this past weekend while the man was suffering from a mental health crisis. According to The Guardian, Taylor wielded a bat inside the store but had dropped it on the ground prior to being shot with a taser then with a bullet to the chest. In a bystander’s video footage you can see police using the taser and pointing their weapons while Taylor is already laying on the floor while a witness yells “Don’t shoot him no more!”

A single bullet struck Taylor in the torso, killing him.

The family, alongside civil rights activists, are rightfully raising hell about this egregious misconduct.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for Taylor’s family, said Taylor was going through a mental health crisis on Saturday afternoon, and that he has previously suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar depression. “He was shot after he had become completely helpless and no longer represented a threat,” Merritt told the Guardian on Monday.

He went on to make charges that the officers did not attempt to administer aid to Taylor once he was incapacitated and injured.

“Their job, according to standard operating procedures, was to get Mr Taylor help. He had been seriously wounded and was suffering from a mental health crisis. They had to treat him quickly. They did the opposite and exacerbated his injuries,” Merritt said.

Let the department tell it, Taylor was non-compliant and walked toward the officers while holding the bat. One officer reportedly tried the taser but it was “ineffective”, two other officers fired shots from their service weapons.

Rest in peace, Steven Taylor. F**k the police.