A San Leandro police officer who was present but did not fire his service weapon when another officer fatally shot a man at a Walmart four years ago has filed a lawsuit claiming the city damaged his career and his rights as a peace officer under state law has violated. by publicly releasing investigative data related to the shooting.
“He is effectively in custody,” said attorney Paul Goyette on behalf of the plaintiff, Stefan Overton. “He can’t be promoted, he can’t transfer, he can’t get any special assignments.”
Overton was sent to the Walmart at 15555 Hesperian Blvd. to a report of a shoplifter at 3:12 PM on April 18, 2020, and arrived shortly after Officer Jason Fletcher.
Body camera footage shows Fletcher was in the store for less than 15 seconds when he pulled his firearm on Steven Taylor, who was holding a baseball bat. Fletcher tried unsuccessfully to forcibly remove the bat from Taylor’s grasp, then held Taylor at gunpoint from about 15 feet away until Taylor took several steps forward and Fletcher shot him in the chest.
Overton was still running to the scene of the confrontation when Fletcher fired a single bullet. Taylor was bleeding profusely from the torso as he dropped the bat and began walking away, at which point Overton used a Taser stun gun on Taylor – sending the fatally wounded man to the ground, where he was handcuffed.
Both officers were placed on administrative leave. The following month, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed 46-year-old George Floyd, sparking months of civil unrest across the US – and increased investigation into the circumstances surrounding Taylor’s death.
Fletcher was eventually charged with voluntary manslaughter for his role in the murder and his case is still pending. Robert Chenault, chief of investigators for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, wrote in a probable cause statement that it had been unreasonable for Fletcher to conclude that Taylor posed an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm.
“I believe that Officer Fletcher’s actions, combined with his inability to attempt other de-escalation options, made his use of deadly force unreasonable and a violation of Criminal Code Section 192(a), voluntary manslaughter.” , Chenault wrote.
Overton had been an officer for less than two years at the time of the shooting, having joined the department as a trainee in 2018 and completing his field training in July 2019. After Taylor was killed, Overton continued to work patrol shifts until February 2021, when he was transferred to a desk job.
The city hired Long Beach consulting firm OIR Group to conduct an independent investigation and published their report in April 2021 in the interest of police transparency. OIR Group says it has consulted on more than 400 police shooting investigations. Cities and counties often contract with such companies for internal investigations to avoid the apparent impropriety of investigating themselves.
According to the OIR Group report and the civil lawsuit filed by his attorneys, Overton mistook the sound of Fletcher’s gun for a Taser and initially did not realize a gun had been fired. Investigators wrote that when asked how he perceived the gunshot, Overton “speculated” that a firearm “would have been louder, especially indoors.”
Bodycam footage shows Taylor was bleeding profusely from the chest at this time, but Overton told OIR investigators he only noticed bloodstains on the ground after using his Taser on the fatally wounded man.
The use of Overton’s Taser became the focus of further investigation. OIR Group found that Taylor dropped the bat and began walking away about three seconds before Overton deployed his Taser, so the threat he posed to Overton and Fletcher was greatly reduced and no longer met the threshold for San Leandro’s use of force policy .
Overton also failed to verbally warn Taylor before deploying his Taser in another apparent violation of department policy, although he claimed to have already seen the Taser barbs protruding from Taylor’s body and assumed Fletcher had warned him.
The same report found that Fletcher also failed to warn Taylor before resorting to the use of force. He also failed to de-escalate, wait for reinforcements or apply crisis intervention techniques. “Accordingly, Fletcher’s decision-making allowed him to deal with Taylor without the presence or assistance of a backup officer, limiting his tactical options and contributing to his own perception of increased threat,” the report said.
“Fletcher’s hasty solo entry not only put him at a disadvantage, but also put Officer Overton in a position where he could respond spontaneously to a dynamic situation, with a deficit of knowledge about what had occurred,” the report said. “This posed obvious challenges to Officer Overton’s ‘interpretation’ of the situation.”
OIR Group also speculated that Fletcher may have accidentally fired his gun. At the time of the shooting, Fletcher had the firearm in his right hand and Taser in his left hand, in violation of an SLPD policy that discouraged this controversial tactic due to the risk of confusion under stress.
The report appears to exonerate Overton, finding fault with the rookie officer’s actions but placing the blame for the use of deadly force squarely on Fletcher, who fatally shot Taylor amid a series of alleged policy violations.
“It should be noted that in response to the incident, [Overton] was sufficiently disadvantaged by the decision-making of his partner, former officer Fletcher,” the report said.
Goyette, Overton’s attorney, called the OIR Group report a “confidential peace officer file” and described its release as “extremely irresponsible.”
“They were so concerned about their image and the PR component that certain members of the City Council were trying to promote that they didn’t care what happened to this man or his reputation,” Goyette said. “And once it’s there, it’s there permanently.”
More than four years after Taylor’s death, Goyette alleged that Overton’s career in law enforcement was negatively affected by this case and the city’s handling of it. Goyette argues that Overton has been wrongly branded a murderer: incapable of being promoted in rank or assigned to special forces, and incapable of being hired by other police forces.
Overton would also have been denied the opportunity for overtime, which is an important source of income for many officers. That would violate Overton’s rights under the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act, which states that an officer cannot be subject to punitive measures, such as denial of promotions, unless the agency that employs the officer completes an administrative investigation within one year. According to Goyette, the OIR Group report does not meet that requirement.
Goyette argues that outsourcing this investigation violated the department’s policy on fatal shootings, which requires the department to conduct its own administrative investigation. The complaint states that more than four years later, no investigation has yet taken place.
When contacted for comment on the lawsuit, San Leandro spokesman Paul Sanftner said the city planned to “defend itself vigorously” but could not provide additional information due to the ongoing litigation and sensitive nature of the case. The San Leandro Police Officers’ Association union did not respond to a request for comment.
