Click HERE for a very graphic photo of the victim
On July 5, in response to a routine check on a car break-in report, [Fullerton, CA] police confronted Kelly Thomas, 37, near the bus station – a location he often resided. Shortly after, Thomas, who is a diagnosed schizophrenic, was brutally beaten. His face was repeatedly smashed into the curb, flashlights were repeatedly hammered into his skull, he was tasered at least six times as he screamed in terror: “Dad, Dad, Dad”, and then he went unconscious. Thomas died five days later after being taken off life support.
The video of Thomas’ cries for his father have been viewed more than 715,000 times on You Tube.
Earlier last week, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said that there is no evidence the officers intended to kill Kelly Thomas, but are still in the process of trying to determine if officers used excessive force in his death.
[…]
Witnesses said the beating reminded them of the eerily similar brutality engaged against the protestors in Egypt and Syria.
We train other countries in torture, they teach our police their tactics. Win Win!
Where have y’all been? This has been doing on for a while now, and I don’t mean just the Kelly Thomas case.
It’s time people realize that cops don’t give a frozen log of ish that there are camera everywhere now and that they will continue with the domestic terrorism on the American people.
America has its own al Qaeda and it’s the police force of the country.
For the first three weeks, the local press virtually ignored this story. The officers involved were not put on administrative leave and the story might have ended there. Then the father of the victim started appearing on local radio shows and posted the picture of his beaten son on the Internet. Then and only then did the press start presenting the story and the officers were taken off the street. Now it is a huge local news story that is receiving lots of attention. This occurred near a bus stop. There is a high quality video of the beating taken by the city bus stop survalence camera. The public has not seen this video but it apparently shows the officers beating the victim in what could only be described as having a reckless disregard for his life. This is going to end very badly for the officer or officers that beat this man to death. The lesson here is never give up on pursuing the truth.
Back in the good old days of LAPD, this sort of thing was de regular and didn’t even elicit more than a page 25 2 inch blurb in the newspapers. The only thing that would have been extraordinary, was that this was Orange County and the victim was white.
The only good thing is that, like cannibalism in the Royal Navy, we now have the problem relatively under control.
The real crime here is in that the citizens of Fullerton have not overthrown their corrupt city government. Time for a regime change there I think
Boys got a little, uh, rambunctious did they?
Well, boys will be boys and shit happens…
Too bad about the nutter but… that the law for ya.
If 6 cops can’t cuff someone, there needs to be new hiring and fitness regulations.
There was a time when being a cop meant you had to be a man and accept the risks of going up against criminals. Every now and then a officer was killed in the line of duty and it was a given that these things happen. Now we have gangs of thugs in ever increasing numbers and if a cop dies they name a freeway after him (or her) and have parades through the middle of town. If a common citizen gets killed, they must have been doing something wrong – or it’s used as an excuse to hire ever more police. I worry less about the criminals then I do the cops these days.
Old news but if I had my way I probably go snipe this cops head off. I probably eat his heart completely too. Too bad I don’t like guns and don’t want to. I don’t mind saying it online as this is just ridiculous for him to be doing to this man.
The government is the potent omnipresent teacher.
For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example.
Crime is contagious.
If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law;
it invites every man to become a law unto himself;
it invites anarchy.
Justice Brandeis, US Supreme Court
What’s next? Ordering a quadriplegic in a wheel chair to stop resisting and put his hands behind his back? Just like politicians, this career choice of ‘legal thug’ truly does bring out the assholes in society.
Its always good to be concerned about the activity of cops, and fuckwads like PeaPod can make light of it thinking its as cool as wearing a tee shirt without sleeves in high school, but this will continue and could even get worse until we realize that at its root is LACK OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES. As our social safety net has been worn thin by decades of budget cuts, the police have become the default mental health first responders. They aren’t qualified/interested/equipped to deal with schizophrenics. Thats why PeaPod makes fun. He’s nervous. He’s next.
Further is the focus on the specific cops rather than the selection/training/supervision system that made them what they are. Even once the media gets the system to pay attention to the needs of the taxpayers in their fine town, the focus of concern is still likely to be about 3-4 degrees off.
People will fight for change, and the change won’t make any difference. Whats needed is a recognition of what a society needs to be civilized and the taxes to support it.
VOTE ALL “NO NEW TAXES” POLITICIANS OUT OF OFFICE.
50% or more of all cops now are ex-military. I imagine within 20 years it will be 95%.
When you hire trained killers to work with the public, some of them will eventually fall back on their training and kill someone.
That’s no criticism of military or ex-military personell. They just don’t need to be in charge of protecting civilians from civilians.
Fuck u Tony Rackauckas !
More detail here from the UK–have to leave the country to get any info on the transparent services of our local governments:
http://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019225/Kelly-Thomas-Police-beat-taser-gentle-mentally-ill-homeless-man-death.html
“No evidence the police intended to kill Thomas.” /// What do you call the severe beating past all provocation and Thomas’s death? Intent is presumed quite often and literally from the outcome.
I like the lie first told: two police officers suffered broken bones. When that lie is revealed, admit it, and go to lie number two: soft tissue injuries.
All officers involved should be removed from the force. Those actively engaged for doing it and those who stood around and let it happen. Move up the official chain of command until the house is cleaned out.
this is why increasingly I support the second amendment, not only to protect myself and family from criminals, but from the security forces of the rich (who are the state), ie., the cops…
It use to bother me when I heard about a cop being killed.
Six cops to ‘subdue’ a homeless man. Seems they are devoid of more than judgement.
Keep this up and it will be an American Spring.
This video is an example of why it’s illegal to shoot video of police in some jurisdictions – evidence that can lead to firings within a police department or government agency or that can be used in a criminal or civil trial.
#2 Steve S – Video from government surveillance cameras should be public record. If the video needs to be “classified” as police intelligence for an investigation than just go from there.
I live in the next town over. We are sad for this. These Cops are nothing more than Gangsters with badges. They are in hiding, the Chief is on Medical leave. Gripes the hell outta me..
Government employees with a license to kill. Murderers that ‘serves and protect’. Serving justice, just like in China, or USSR. No need to deny it any longer – It Can’t Happen Here, but it has very much.
The beacon of freedom and justice for all has become a scary monster.
Simply put, these cops are EVIL! Their interest is power, not justice, not truth, just power!
Local story for me musta posted this in the wrong board. Anyway Kelly’s dad is an Orange County sheriff. He made the city council walk out when he gave em a piece of his mind. I heard there were some cops protesting too but I havnt seen that personally just big brother video taping the crowd and telling us we can’t but otherwise they were polite since they didn’t murder anyone.
This was my first time seeing this video. What’s sad is justice was never done. But, I’m so glad phones have really good video recording now so we can see stuff like this. lol @ the guy who says “youtube!”. I personally think you should be allowed to record whatever you want with your own phone.
If Kelly’s dad was an Orange County sheriff, he should have arrested those dirty cops with the same force they used on his son.
#12, where did you get this statistic? sounds fishy to me. I know lots of cops, only a couple ever wore a military uniform. And if they had a successful military career, I can guarantee you they didn’t go back to law enforcement, unless that was their job in the military.
#26, arbitrary proclamations like yours show a distint lack of critical thinking.
Bobbo, you are right about it being a mental health problem. But not just about inadequate care for individuals with problems: It is improper screening and hiring by law enforcement agencies, because nearly every municipality is desperate to hire more cops. Look at the sort of individual that is attracted to uniformed service: They recieve special training, a firearm, a badge (real or implied) and recieve respect because of society pressure if nothing else.
Guys with short stints in the military may not get a dishonorable discharge, but are often “driven out” by their peers because they lack the discipline for service, or they have an innate inability to accept authority, yet crave it for themselves.
To make a short story endless, the police force attracts bullies, the clinically insecure, and emotionally damaged individuals who enjoy exercizing power over others. Not all cops are bad, but the demographics they draw from are often questionable.
Les–of course we agree and I think I made the same point not as directly as you.
Ironically, I wanted to be a cop when I was a kiddie. I saw it as “helping” people. but my life went in other directions. One day when I recalled my kiddie interest, I realized it had morphed into being on the inside and just waiting for the opportunity to rip off drug money from criminals.
Would a nice guy like me make a good cop?===Totally dependent on the system that hired and supervised me.
Same as in everything else.
I wonder, do cops create more evil by their uncontrolled emotional rage then they squelch?
Almost every other country has a lower rate of citizen violence then USA in part because their cops don’t police by heavy handed brute force, shot first mindset!!
I don’t blame the cops. I blame the system that hires these thugs, and gives them the power of life and death, in order to protect the rich and wealthy, from the rest of us. There’s little or no psych testing going on. And apparently no steroid abuse testing either. In fact the beefier the cop, the better. So what if they like to smash suspects’ skulls into street curbs? And the mainstream media is covering up for this behavior. They changed the Rodney King beating, from a case of arrest procedure overkill, to a racial issue. Thus ensuring that a lot of white republicans would be on the side of the cops, no matter how brutal they were. This is really all about scaring the crap out of all of us, so we won’t step out of line and conspire to get our country and our rights back from the top 1% income makers. If you think the cops are brutal over a traffic violation. Just think what they’ll do if you dare inconvenience Donald Trump.
Ya know, Zha Zha Gabor once slapped a traffic cop, for pulling her over. And that cop didn’t pound her head into the pavement. Wonder why? Celebrity law? Apparently if your name is connected to an industry, like movies, television, football, basketball, etc. You get treated WAY different by the police. You may even get away with murder. As O.J. Simpson did. And they won’t beat you half to death, for mouthing off to them. As Mel Gibson did. And the courts super tolerate missing appearance dates, and violating probation. As Lindsay Lohan did.
They coddle the rich and famous, and beat the living sh*t out of the rest of us. What a legal system, eh?