As a former law enforcement officer, this video was not pleasant for me to watch. It shows 6 Fullerton (Ca) PD officers "arresting" a 37-year-old, mentally ill homeless man named Kelly Thomas last year. By the time it was over, Thomas was on his way to the hospital where he eventually went into a coma and died of his injuries. The incident, which was witnessed by several bystanders and caught on a nearby security camera, has outraged the city of Fullerton, caused the chief of police to retire, a recall petition to be launched against three city councilmen, and the indictment of two of the officers. They are identified as Manuel Ramos, charged with 2nd degree murder and Jay Cicinelli, charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The above tape had been held from public disclosure until the recent preliminary hearing. It runs over 33 minutes. There are certain portions when what is occurring is hidden behind a tree where the scuffle is taking place. The encounter began when officers responded to a complaint about someone vandalizing cars. On the tape, two officers, primarily Ramos, are talking with Thomas, who is shirtless and wearing a backpack. As one of the officers searches the backpack (off-camera), Ramos, twirling his baton, continues to talk with Thomas. At times, the words are audible, and at times they are not. Somewhere after the 14:30 mark, Ramos, putting on latex gloves, comes up to Thomas, who, per orders, is seated on the sidewalk and says, "Now you see my fists?" then says,"They're getting ready to f--- you up." Thomas is not following commands well, and when he is told to extend his legs and then put his hands on his knees, he says he can't do both at the same time. A struggle ensues when Ramos puts his hands on Thomas, and Thomas is hit with two batons, attempts to run, and is pinned to the ground as the officers order him to put his hands behind his back. Thomas is screaming, "I'm sorry", "I can't breathe", and "Help me". More officers arrive and join in trying to assist the first two in handcuffing Thomas. At one point, Cicinelli strikes Thomas repeatedly in the face with the butt of his taser gun (He later tells fellow officers that he had hit Thomas with his taser and "smashed his face to Hell.") After several minutes of struggle, Thomas loses consciousness.
In police confrontations that result in violence, there are many things that can happen on both sides that lead to or escalate the violence. It is true that Thomas was less than cooperative, but he was mentally ill and presumably, this was apparent to the officers. According to comments they made, they believed Thomas must have been on some of drugs. Taking all that into consideration, however, Thomas was resisting, but not posing a physical threat to the 2-then 6 officers. He was clearly overpowered. At some point, you have to get the handcuffs on him and take him away (assuming they had a charge).
Below is a photo of Thomas taken in the hospital by his father before he died.
How could Kelly Thomas have wound up looking like this?
I'm sorry, but this stinks.
4 comments:
This video of law enforcement officers beating a mentally ill man into a coma is disgusting. I see shear brute force against a man who does not have the ability to defend himself at the hands of officers who obviously do not know the rules of reasonable force.
Their training has failed, if they had training in how to handle challenged individuals.
Furthermore, the State of California's Police Officers Standard Training (POST) needs to look into this incident in order to mitigate future encounters between challenged individuals and law enforcement officers. This needs to be mandatory training.
I truly feel sorry for the family of this man and hope that this sort of disgraceful behavior ceases.
Squid
Oh My G-d!!!! Whoever did that to that poor man should be horse whipped!!! Nobody has the right to be beaten like that. And it was done by the police is even worse.
How about a few murder charges? I'd even go for the death penalty in this case.
From the blogsite Friends For Fullerton Future, it has been shown under now retired Fullerton Police Chief Pat McKinley(1993-2009) not only tolerated a pattern of his police force abusing the community of Fullerton's civil rights , but promoted a heavy-handed policing philosophy at the behest of Fullerton city council person Dick Jones. Jones referred to the numerous bars and clubs in downtown Fullerton as out of control , the "wild west", and it seems he tolerated McKinley's approach to this problem; physically intimidate, perjury, false arrest. McKinley's legacy may be seen in Kelly thomas beating death at the hands of fullerton PD, officers personally hired by Pat McKInley.
And here is the irony, while serving as Fullerton"s police chief, Mckinley also served on the Orange County Human Relations Commission, a commission that claims to act a s a "clearinghouse" and "mediator" between OC communities' complaints of civil rights abuses committed upon them by their respective law enforcement agencies.
FFF,
Thanks for your comment. That is the same OCHRC that is giving "sensitivity" training to the Fullerton PD. Rusty Kennedy earning his 300 grand a year for a useless white elephant that produces an annual pamphlet with charts and graphs showing the handful of "hate crimes" real and imagined and hands out the famous Rusty award to all his liberal friends.
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