Posted on 08/04/2011 11:33:53 AM PDT by truthkeeper
Six police officers in California were placed on leave Wednesday after surveillance video surfaced showing witnesses describe how cops fatally beat a mentally ill homeless man.
Kelly Thomas, 37, died July 10, five days after a confrontation with Fullerton police investigating reports of an attempted car burglary.
Surveillance video taken on an Orange County Transportation Authority bus showed passengers describing the alleged assault.
"They beat him up, and then all the cops came and they hogtied him, and he was like, 'Please God, Please Dad!'" said one witness.
Another video, taken by a bystander on his cell phone, shows the altercation from a distance. A man's voice is heard over a clicking noise that witnesses said was from a stun gun.
Thomas had schizophrenia and was not taking his medication, according to his father, Ron Thomas. He suffered severe head and neck injuries and was eventually taken off life support.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Too damned many cops patrolling the same damned community!
City cops.
Sheriff
State Patrol
...Their backs are to the camera. 6 murderers asses...
I know you are and I'm sorry you have to go through this because of these few. Hopefully the houses can begin to be cleaned from within because of this.
Thank you for what you do, we are blessed to have you.
I heard of the alternate cellphone video from the John & Ken show, which is a prominent LA talk show.
My gut feeling is that that video is now destroyed, since the perps feel that their jobs might be history now anyway —that’s just a guess, however.
Aside from the zoomable vid from the squad, also the city apparently apparently has video from a high, pole-mounted cam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0baWrHrBQM&feature=related
What an insulting post.
Do your realize that in a free society one of the most important functions of a free press is to explicitly highlight abuses by the Police. Abuse by government always needs to be brought before the public.
These so called cops are sadistic pigs. They should be given the death penalty. I have lost ALL respect for police -- they are turning into gangs with a badge.
Thanks. KFI is doing yeoman's work on this one.
The police here are evil predators
Here is the Fullerton tipster:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDGGV7kjH-c
in another clip the caller’s voice is electronically disguised.
A longer, great clip from the anonymous PD tipster. This time his voice is electronically altered:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yo4iOWDZ9o&feature=related
This is a really great clip.
Nothing but a gang of cowardly, psychopathic murderers. No pity, no sympathy, no empathy. They just beat that man to a bloody pulp and then laughed about it in the locker room. That’s what happens when you have a bunch of adolescent-minded adults on steroids carring guns and tazers.
STEROIDS: Used by 9 out of 10 cops because carrying a gun, taser, billyclub, mace and having a canine in the back of your police cruiser just isn’t enough for some LEOs. (Got to get the ROID-RAGE going, know what I mean?)
Hey, who wants to go for a walk in downtown Fullerton this weekend? Anybody? Hello? *crickets*
I hope people take the time to listen to it, scary as it is.
Please add me to your list for this case.
Thanks.
I also think the recall effort on the city council will be successful, and if the mayor is part of it, I hope that old goat goes too.
Our tax dollars at use...
They were all cowards and did not stand up to their fellow cops. Shame on them. and shame on all those that watched the video in real time and did not move to arrest those cops doing and abetting in the murder.
“Insulting post” because it doesn’t agree with your myopic worldview.
It is a stated communist goal, in which the media is a willing accomplice, to make simplistic people lose respect for clergy, members of the military and police.
Yes, true. Communist agents are all over our nation...many of them are native born but have been converted to marxism. But that doesn’t really have anything to do with this case. The media attention is needed here.
Never said that it wasn’t. All I said was that the media hypes the negative stories to push a communist agenda. You rarely, if ever, hear about the good ones.
The same thing goes for stories about clergy.
The clergy routinely beats the hell out of people, shoots their dogs, breaks down the doors of the wrong houses?
Who knew???
It's the people, the Internet, and KFI radio who made this one go viral.
How’s that “change” thingey working for ya, America. Welcome to Obama’s America!
Suspended with pay of course, they will be back at work in a few weeks after their paid vacation. Damn bottom feeding cops.
Yes, that is a problem. This was plain murder and not a reasonable one. IMO
I had a few law enforcement family members. They're all deceased, but if I had seen them do this, I would say the same thing. Out and out murder ON TAPE.
I don't want these types in any police position.
Disgrace to the badge.
According to the media they molest kids, have affairs, steal money, engage in homosexual conduct, and drug use.
As for your sarcastic response “routinely” is laughable.
There are over a sworn million law enforcement officers in the nation (including part-time and reserves), with hundreds of millions of citizens interactions each year. In order to be “routine” you need to come up with more than a couple hundred, or even a couple thousand stories a year.
Whatever... people like you will believe whatever the media feeds them. I’m not going to change any minds, and I pretty much sick of even trying anymore. The media owns what people believe, and useful idiots abound.
Give yourself a virtual high-five as you sit behind the keyboard and rail against “the man”.
I’m done with the thread.
See ya....don't forget to wipe the boot poslish of your nose.
We all know the MSM is uber leftist and are one with the communist philosophy. But that has nothing to do with this case. This is outright murder by sadistic pigs carried out with a badge. That is evil.
So, do you think the "press" is overplaying this story. My God, some people support police no matter what the hell they do -- that is very scary.
Most professions exist, indeed most people earn a living creating or doing things of value for their fellow human beings. Soldiers, by virtue of their existence, provide security and stability so the rest of us can go about performing our functions and pursuing our dreams in relative freedom without worry of foreign invasion. Factory workers produce products that people buy to enhance the quality of their lives. Ostensibly, law enforcement officers enforce the laws that we as a society have passed and expect to be enforced. Landscaping services exist to cut people's lawns, trim their hedges, etc. When cops do 'good' things, they're simply doing what we expect and pay them to do. I don't expect the media to come rushing in to report that I helped a little old lady across the street, or that I generated a really great series of reports for one of my clients today. I simply expect to get paid for having done my job.
Now, I will agree with you that the media does distort and skew unfairly...we all know that happens, but expecting them to not cover abberant, abusive behavior in any profession, especially one empowered with lethal force, is simply unreasonable. Cops are supposed to be on the side of right and justice; they have long been cited as role models and paragons. Things have changed dramatically, and I find your assertion that a cop doing a good thing is newsworthy/praiseworthy as a bit disturbing. Given the level of authority and power they are entrusted with, exemplary behavior should simply go with the territory.
What an intelligent post. Thank you.
Well, just the old-school "fire & brimstone" guys ;-)
re: “What an insulting post. Do you realize that in a free society one of the most important functions of a free press is to explicitly highlight abuses by the police.”
Sir, where did the writer of the post you responded to ever advocate NOT exposing crimes commited by the police?
His obvious point was in answer to a previous poster’s question as to why there have been so many stories in the news lately about police abuse - He merely pointed out that the media tends to only focus on the negative stories. You seem to think that is some kind of virtue.
Yes the free press should go after these types of stories, but isn’t it also true that the free press should also be attempting to present the whole truth?!
If the press only reports the negative and never the positve, or, all positve and no negative (when we know such cases do exist) about a person, a political party, an organization or a group of people (like gun-owners, the Tea Party, our soldiers, etc.), then that’s just biased lies and deception - which, by the way, seems to be the typical way our “free press” operates today.
So, it seems to me that yours is the insultingly naive post in that you seem to think it’s proper for the press to only focus on one side of an issue.
I did have fun with one snarky post though....
Well, that's not what I hoped for...but it's a good start.
“I’m done with the thread.”
Whatever, but thank goodness you decided to quit insulting other citizens. Must be part of police training. What a jerk!
Your attitude of attacking the media for exposing the truth is no different than the rest of the police that want to suppress cameras and refuse to answer to the citizens they are sworn to protect. You are part of the problem.
There is no need to put a ‘feel good’ story of the good things cops do all the time. We expect you to do good things, it’s the job we hired you to do. But when you decide to be judge and jury and abuse your authority we need the media to report it to prevent the corruption of a cover up. It’s their job to inform us about these things. Same with clergy - they are in a position of authority, and must be held accountable.
You answer to us, the citizens, not your own myopic worldview.
If you are a part of law enforcement, you should be cheering the media on to uncover this crime, not attack the media. Shame on you!
“I’m done with the thread.”
Whatever, but thank goodness you decided to quit insulting other citizens. Must be part of police training. What a jerk!
Your attitude of attacking the media for exposing the truth is no different than the rest of the police that want to suppress cameras and refuse to answer to the citizens they are sworn to protect. You are part of the problem.
There is no need to put a ‘feel good’ story of the good things cops do all the time. We expect you to do good things, it’s the job we hired you to do. But when you decide to be judge and jury and abuse your authority we need the media to report it to prevent the corruption of a cover up. It’s their job to inform us about these things. Same with clergy - they are in a position of authority, and must be held accountable.
You answer to us, the citizens, not your own myopic worldview.
If you are a part of law enforcement, you should be cheering the media on to uncover this crime, not attack the media. Shame on you!
Could it be that the police are increasingly become more violent with the citizens of our Republic? Yes, I want the press to be a rabid watchdog over the police.
So, it seems to me that yours is the insultingly naive post in that you seem to think it’s proper for the press to only focus on one side of an issue.
one side?? That makes no sense with regard to this sadistic beating by these pigs.
Most Freepers are well aware of the media being enemies of Freedom and Liberty. We know the press leans heavily for the left. That has no relevance with regards to police abuse being a serious matter. Since most of the press is left, any reports on abuse will likely be reported from leftist dominated media.
Yes, forgot to mention...the autopsy was “inconclusive.”
Probably because his face and organs were beaten into mush.
While I believe that the worst of our society has had some part in making them this way and has attracted the less psychologically desirable police candidates - many times solely because their color or ethnic background is a 'hiring plus', there are far too few police officers in congested jurisdictions that can distinguish between threats and general law-abiding citzenry. And, therein lies the rub.
Perhaps he died of a peanut allergy.
Well, you are implying that by putting your post in the middle of a thread about police murder without any comment about how evil this all is...are you not? You should at least write something about how needed this type of attention is in a case like this....seems to me.
I saw the video — well, heard, the only video I am aware of.
When this poor guy was crying “Dad! Dad!” it brought tears to my eyes.
And picture of him in the hospital is enough to turn your stomach! His father is pressing for an aggravated murder charge for the cops (the main one has a history of abuse). Unless something really significant surfaces, I agree.
Why do we have law enforcement when they are the ones beating and killing people?
This is sick and disgusting and worthy of hanging everyone involved!
You just have to see this.
This post from the Fullerton Future website says it better than I could.
Caution, adult language ahead: #195 by Ex-cop now soldier Mike on August 2, 2011
I was a deputy and police officer for a total of 10 years in a major urban County/City. I served on two SOT teams and was also a defensive tactics instructor. I am now in the Army (8 proud unblemished years in the Infantry) and have served in combat.
IOW, I am no stranger to violence, dynamic situations, the fishbowl policeman live in, or being on the recieving end of Monday morning quarterbacking.
Or any of the other thousands of excuses policemen have for behavior that would land a private citizen in prison.
As a Defensive Tactics instructor, I have studied use of force videos and am fully aware that what may appear shocking on videotape to the untrained and inexperienced eye is sometimes fully justified when explained and viewed through the lens of the Use of Force Continuum.
For those reasons I am going to grant you that you are right about this – I wasn’t there. There might be justificaton for six armored and armed policemen beating a 135lb unarmed homeless man into a coma while he screams for his dad to save him.
There might be a fuc%1ng Bigfoot, too.
I always chuckle at tose who refer to “damaged combat vets who come home unhinged.” I came home praying I would never have to lift my hand to another human being so long as I live. But I am a soldier, and I dont believe that prayer will be granted. I always feel uncomfortable when people thank me so profusely for my service. I appreciate it, really. But I volunteered. I wasn’t a babe in the woods. Its what I do, because someone needed to do it. And if not me, who? If I didn’t believe the American public was worth doing it for, I’d do something else.
So, back to our selfless heroes on the Fullerton PD -whats their story? If the awesome burden of their service is too much for their sensitive souls, get another job. But don’t expect us to fellate you for your sacrifice -you weren’t drafted and any thanks I owe you comes in the form of pay and benefits. Not happy with those? See “get another job” above.
And if you beat some poor guy to death and your department (to include your supposedly “good” comrades who object, but not so strenuously they will speak out like men of honor) covers it up, there is not a prison too dark or tree to hang you from too high to suit me. Warriors defend the defenseless from Thugs like you.
I have more respect for the Taliban. At least they don’t expect sympathy from their victims.
My oath was to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC.
I am really beginning to think our rifles are pointed the wrong way.
If reports I have heard are true, the lead bad cop, could only see out of one eye.
Regardless of his mental state, no way he should have been on any kind of patrol.
Thank you truthkeeper. This a travesty of justice. Who is giving these cops permission to kill people and also their dogs?
However, since he had the right connections, he was able to get a gig on the FPD.
I'd like to know what the FPD policy is about having one-eyed cops. I also wonder if his situation might have made him a little overly hostile to "perps."
But then, that seems a question the police shrinks should have asked him. If they even use them, that is.
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