Posted on 05/08/2012 11:52:15 AM PDT by Altariel
(CNN) -- A graphic video played at a hearing Monday to determine whether two California police officers should stand trial in the beating death of a homeless man showed them kicking and punching the mentally ill man as he lay on the ground -- screaming in pain and begging for help.
The victim, Kelly Thomas, died five days after the beating on July 5.
Manuel Ramos, a 10-year veteran of the Fullerton, California, police department, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, while Cpl. Jay Patrick Cicinelli faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and felony use of excessive force in the same case.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
How awful.
involuntary manslaughter ?
Ummm, when you beat a person without mercy, until he dies a few days later, this seems like “Voluntary” manslaughter. That is, unless you had a gun to your head and were forced to participate in the beating.
If I were a juror, I’d vote for Premeditated Murder
A touch of irony....the father of the victim is an ex-cop who now trains police officers how to handle combatant arrestees.
I can’t wait to see how the bootlickers are going to defend this...
Beating of a white dude? Why is this even in the news? /s
“involuntary manslaughter ?
Ummm, when you beat a person without mercy, until he dies a few days later, this seems like Voluntary manslaughter. That is, unless you had a gun to your head and were forced to participate in the beating.”
Let me rephrase. “... that is, unless you’re a cop, and then you get to say the unarmed 4 year old girl made a ‘threatening move’ to her waist band, so I shot her 24 times with my Remington 12 gauge.”
And then you walk.
Pack mentality.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” then the sound of tasers going off repeatedly after the guy is already on the ground with his hands behind his back. These two DICKLESS COWARDS should be publicly lynched.
What the hell crime was he supposedly committing anyway? (crickets chirping)
The crime the cops were investigating was that he was supposedly looking in cars and trying the handles. I guess that’s a capital offense now. /s
So yeah... send these guys to general population. Not that special “cops only” prison.
The news media will tell us when to be outraged, and frankly they don't see much profit in whipping up a reaction in this case - white victim, racially mixed assailants...
"See my fists?" Ramos says.
"Yeah," Thomas replies. "What about 'em?"
"They're getting ready to f you up," Ramos says while sliding on a pair of latex gloves. The statements and the menacing acting of putting on the gloves, Rackauckas said the preliminary hearing, set the deadly encounter into motion.
I Don’t know if they showed all of it, but that video didn’t look that bad to me.
In the early 80’s I worker for a car rental agency about a half a block west of Highland on Hollywood Blvd. We had the occasional transient come into the office and cause disturbances. The “sane” or druggie types we easily removed with threats of violence (we kept bats behind the counter). There were also plenty of obviously mentally ill people too. I called the LAPD on the first few incidents of these types. When the cops arrived I let them know that we had a stubborn, mentally ill person that did not want to leave . They usually just wanted to talk but WOW could they stink up the place. Twice I watched the LAPD drag someone out of my office onto Hollywood Blvd then proceed to goad the person into highly agitated state, smiling and laughing the whole time. Then, when the person was agitated enough to want to get away, the elbows started flying. Not once but twice I watched four officers literally slam someone to the ground and proceed to beat the living crud out of an obviously ill person. For fun. In broad daylight on Hollywood Blvd. I mean bloodied by fists and sticks, cuffed and arrested.
I quit calling the cops after that. We dealt with the mentally ill folks by talking to them. As much as I couln
That wasn’t in the vid.
I’d say 2nd degree murder. I don’t know if it was pre-meditated, but once they got going they didn’t stop.
Cops do not know the difference between mentally ill people and people on illegal drugs/resisters. But obviously when they are not fighting back there’s no real reason to beat them to death. It wasn’t a situation where the perp is saying he’s not resisting but is clearly fighting/resisting.
Supposedly there was a 911 call that someone was breaking into cars in the parking lot, but the police refused to release the tape. The speculation is that the local restaurant and bar owners were pressing the police to drive the homeless out of the area because they were bad for business. This beating was part of that effort.
The victim, shortly before he died:
“I Dont know if they showed all of it, but that video didnt look that bad to me.”
A video that shows a beating that a mentally ill man died from doesn’t look that bad to you?
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