The move was seemingly to prevent video of the encounter from being shared on social media, which restricts content that contains copyrighted music.
There’s bad blood between an Alameda County sheriff’s sergeant and protesters after he used a Taylor Swift song in an apparent effort to avoid an on-camera confrontation earlier this week. Authorities say an investigation has been launched into Tuesday’s encounter between Sgt. David Shelby and members of the Anti Police-Terror Project, an organization that seeks police reform. During the incident, Shelby — who was being filmed by protesters on the courthouse steps in Oakland — pulls out his cellphone and begins playing music while arguing with James Burch, the policy director for the Anti Police-Terror Project. The move was seemingly to prevent video of the encounter from being shared on social media, which restricts content that contains copyrighted music. But the video still ended up online: It was posted to Twitter and YouTube. Sgt. Ray Kelly, a public information officer for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, said in an email that sheriff’s officials had seen the video and referred the incident to the department’s internal affairs bureau. “This is not approved behavior,” Kelly said. “It will not happen again.” Burch and other members of the group were outside the Alameda County superior courthouse on June 29, supporting the family of Steven Taylor, who was killed by San Leonardo police in April 2020 during a mental health crisis inside a Walmart store.
