Activists cry foul after sheriff’s sergeant uses Taylor Swift song to thwart posting of video

Activists and law enforcement alike are denouncing an Alameda County Sheriff’s sergeant who played a Taylor Swift song during a conversation with activists to attempt to keep the video from being posted online.

The incident took place outside a courthouse in Oakland last month while members of the Oakland-based Anti Police-Terror Project and Justice for Steven Taylor Coalition gathered to listen to the pre-trial hearing of Jason Fletcher, a former San Leandro police officer who in April 2020 used a Taser stun gun and then fatally shot Taylor, 33, in a Walmart while Taylor was experiencing a mental health crisis. Fletcher has been charged with felony manslaughter in Alameda County.