California cop who gunned down black man at Walmart previously fired over hate crime arrest

One of the California police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a young black father was previously charged with a hate crime and fired.

A Barstow police spokesman confirmed that Officer Jimmie Alfred Walker was involved in the fatal April 5 shooting of Diante Yarber in a Walmart parking lot, reported The Guardian.

The police captain also confirmed that the other officers involved were Cpl. Jose Barrientos, Officer Vincent Carrillo and Officer Mathew Allen Helms.

The 26-year-old father of three was killed after the four officers fired a barrage of bullets into a car, also wounding a young woman.

Cell phone video suggests police fired more than 30 bullets into Yarber's car, which police said was "suspicious" and suspected might have been stolen.

Police said Yarber "accelerated" toward officers, almost hitting one of them, and they opened fire.

Yarber's family told The Guardian that he was not armed and not driving a stolen car, and they said the officers violated basic law enforcement standards by firing into a packed car.

The Guardian revealed that Walker, one of the officers involved in Yarber's killing, was charged in 2010 with hate crime and battery charges after he used racial slurs during an off-duty attack on a man and woman.

“We believe that it shows his improper motive and his bias and hatred of African Americans,” said Sharon Brunner, an attorney for the 23-year-old woman wounded in the police shooting. “We believe that the only reason that he would believe the car was suspicious is because it contained African-Americans.”

Walker, then 30, eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of fighting in a public place and being drunk in public, and the battery charge and hate crime charge were dropped.

The plea agreement required Walker to make a $200 donation to the NAACP and attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and he was fired from the police department at that time.

However, an arbiter later ruled that Walker's termination was wrongful and forced the city to reinstate him with $163,000 in back pay.