Saturday at a San Leandro Walmart, right outside Oakland, police officers responded to a call that an unnamed male was swinging a baseball bat at shoppers at the front entrance.
The responding officers claimed they used their tasers before they dealt the lethal shot, but a cellphone video shows the man was already down.
The video shows the man approaching the two officers with the metal baseball bat; then, a shot can be heard, which the officers claimed were tasers.
The man stumbles backward after dropping the bat, but officers continue they pursuit firing off another shot, dropping the man facedown to the floor.
As the man lays motionless, a third shot can be heard, causing witnesses to freak out even more, with one witness yelling out, “no more.” All three shots sounded familiar, so it’s hard to determine which was the gunshot.
San Leandro Police Department says both officers deployed their tasers unsuccessfully, which caused one officer to use his service weapon to kill the man.
If what the SLPD is saying is right about officers using their tasers, then that means the man was no longer a threat after the officers used their tasers on the man a second time.
So, there was no need to deployed lethal methods. It’s unclear if the SLPD has seen the video, but it doesn’t look good for the officers involved.
