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Caught on tape: Police beat and taser 'gentle' mentally-ill homeless man to death
The Daily Mail ^ | 6:27 PM on 27th July 2011 | RACHEL QUIGLEY

Posted on 07/28/2011 11:25:52 AM PDT by Smogger

Edited on 07/28/2011 11:47:56 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]

A shocking video has been released allegedly showing police officers tasering and beating a homeless man to death who they claim was resisting arrest. Though the video is not clear, eye witnesses say the homeless man - Kelly Thomas, 37 - was unable to put up any resistance and was lying on the ground on his front when the attack took place on July 5. His screams and cries for his father can be heard amid the tasering noises.

Graphic photo at link.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: beatdown; communism; corruption; deadjackbootswalking; donutwatch; fascism; fullerton; jbt; kellythomas; leo; leothugs; leoviolence; lping; murder; police; policestate; rapeofliberty; roguecop; taser; tyranny
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To: Dutchboy88

“No, you were watching the correct video. The inmates around here just can’t believe there may have been any justification, at all. And, I agree, the father is just an opportunist looking for the retirement ticket. Tragic. Now watch you and I get flamed. I’ve already received 15 (or thereabouts) angry responses to my post. None but yours displays a shred of reasonableness.”

Since we all are in the dark on exactly what started this “encounter”, just exactly what would this man have to have done, to the police, to justify this?


101 posted on 07/28/2011 1:59:59 PM PDT by walkingdead (It's easy, you just don't lead 'em as much....)
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To: VeniVidiVici

“I have immediate family in law enforcement and if I ever caught wind of them doing something like this *I* would kick their ass.”

How about making sure they are indicted, convicted, and executed? An ass kicking is hardly appropriate in this case, I should think.

Any LEO who watches such a beating/killing should be tried as
the accomplice which he/she was.

Hang them all at the same time.

What disturbs me most is that such egregious LEO murders and severe beatings are succeeding in convincing most Americans that the police are a danger to public health and safety. The destruction of belief in America is te central goal of collectivists.

From whacked out black moslim slimes in a ‘hood near you to the inhabitants of DC and that thing in the White Hut, all want America to be destroyed. Cops like these six “Executioners-N-Blue” are doing an effective job of convincing Americans that the cops are worse that the criminals..

The day is almost upon us when we will need all the help we can get to preserve and protect the Constitution. LEO’s like these are part of the destruction of America.


102 posted on 07/28/2011 2:00:12 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles.)
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To: Dutchboy88

Thank you. Here’s even more reasonableness. Is there any information about the guy’s condition prior to meeting up with the police? I ask because normally police officers are trained to avoid striking people in the face or head. As Scotsman will be Free said, sometimes these guys are in pretty bad shape already by the time the police find them.

The news media is no help in cases like this. All they know about the guy is this:

1. Met up with the police
2. Got into a scuffle
3. Died

Then they write their own story to fill in the blanks and end up accusing the police of murder. There’s no thought to actual cause and effect, as evidenced by the lurid headlines we keep seeing, “Man dies after being tasered by police.” It would be the same for this hypothetical woman:

1. Came home from work
2. Ate a cookie from the cookie jar
3. Died

“Woman dies after eating cookie,” right? But was she also bitten by a coral snake, or fell down a flight of stairs, or had a fatal asthma attack? We don’t know. It’s the same with this guy. We just don’t know the full story yet.

Anyone who would believe a mainstream media news article and base an opinion entirely on that is fooling himself.


103 posted on 07/28/2011 2:01:34 PM PDT by Tarantulas ( Illegal immigration - the trojan horse that's treated like a sacred cow)
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To: sinsofsolarempirefan
Last night on local radio the father gave a lengthy explanation of his son's life and how he had gradually isolated himself from his family.

Very sad situation. If these cops are as guilty as they look I hope justice is served.

104 posted on 07/28/2011 2:05:18 PM PDT by Churchillspirit (9/11/01...NEVER FORGET.)
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To: Ken H

I am saying again, these are not US soldiers and that guy was not an Iraqi citizen.

Maybe our troops would get an article 15, maybe not a blessed thing, maybe a court martial, but our troops are not investigating car burglaries with mentally ill people, and if they are, another reason to bring them home. Do you honestly believe that if an Iraqi punched one of our troops, his squad would not beat the dogsnot of the offender? Do you think our troops haven’t killed people this way? You resist a detention with the military, you are going to get shot and that has happened, I guarantee it.

Despite whatever the media might try to portray, our military is not eager to throw young soldiers in the brig because they had to use force in a theatre of war. To do so would hurt the morale of the troops and damage the fighting effectiveness. That’s why our troops are not sitting in Iraqi prisons for offenses.

Wherever there is war, innocence and the rules of law are some of the first casualties.


105 posted on 07/28/2011 2:11:19 PM PDT by Molon Labbie
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To: Dutchboy88

They should have just shot him, huh..and that way they would have spared their knuckles from any damage caused by beating him to death.

Ed


106 posted on 07/28/2011 2:13:32 PM PDT by Sir_Ed
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To: walkingdead
"Since we all are in the dark on exactly what started this “encounter”, just exactly what would this man have to have done, to the police, to justify this?"

Permit me to restate this comment: Since we know absolutely nothing about what actually happened here, why do almost all of the posters here assume the cops are the bad guys? If it turns out the guy had a gun, was threatening to kill them all, or was high on meth and going berserk, what would justify the police in waiting so long to kill the perp?"

107 posted on 07/28/2011 2:15:56 PM PDT by Dutchboy88
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To: Dutchboy88

Policemen hold a unique position in society.

We the public grant them the power of arrest and even the power of life and death. With such great power, they have great responsibility.

But in the last two decades, the police have, in a determined and wholesale manner, adopted a attitude of “Us versus Them”.

This is amazingly dangerous to our republic.

If the police failed to use the powers granted to them responsibly, then they don’t deserve our trust.

And if the police treat the people they are charged with protecting as the enemy, then they are nothing less than tools of oppression.


108 posted on 07/28/2011 2:37:47 PM PDT by PanzerKardinal (Some things are so idiotic only an intellectual would believe it.)
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To: ladyvet

I brought my kids up to believe cops were the good guys. Now I beg them to stay as far away from them as possible.

I have taught my kids to stay far away from them. If they are in a situaion with police, do everything the Man says, and call me as soon as permitted. Never resist. Say nothing except name and address. “Yes sir,” and “No sir.” I have taught them that these people have your life in their hands and you do not want to get in front of their bad day. Because you will never win.


109 posted on 07/28/2011 2:49:05 PM PDT by Chickensoup (In the 20th century 200 million people were killed by their own governments.)
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To: PanzerKardinal
"Policemen hold a unique position in society. We the public grant them the power of arrest and even the power of life and death. With such great power, they have great responsibility. But in the last two decades, the police have, in a determined and wholesale manner, adopted a attitude of “Us versus Them”. This is amazingly dangerous to our republic. If the police failed to use the powers granted to them responsibly, then they don’t deserve our trust. And if the police treat the people they are charged with protecting as the enemy, then they are nothing less than tools of oppression."

Sounds like a sermon from a liberal church. What exactly do any of your comments have to do with the story? What do you know that is beyond the video and the rants? If someone has proof of brutality, then the cops are wrong. Bring on the evidence. But, go look at the video and tell us what justifies this pontification.

110 posted on 07/28/2011 2:49:50 PM PDT by Dutchboy88
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To: Dutchboy88

“If it turns out the guy had a gun”

Justification in this case, but wouldn’t the outcome have been man shot, not man tasered and beat to death?

“high on meth and going berserk”

Justification for maybe taser, and possibly a bit of rough housing, but again, beat to death?

You see something stinks here. I do agree that we may find out something we do not know yet. Heck the MSM is notorious for making startling headlines to sell newspapers.

But again, something just doesn’t seem right. 6 against 1, plus 5 tasers, plus face beat to a pulp, coma and death?!

Also I will not buy the fact that someone can do that much damage to themselves. Self preservation is a human instinct.... go ahead try to punch yourself hard enough to even blacken your eye. Bet you will have a hard time doing it. Now beating yourself enough to put yourself in a coma and die..... IMPOSSIBLE.


111 posted on 07/28/2011 2:50:34 PM PDT by walkingdead (It's easy, you just don't lead 'em as much....)
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To: Tarantulas

What’s most sickening to me are the actions of the father. His son is out roaming the streets somewhere, and Dad doesn’t know or care where he is or what he’s doing other than he’s probably off his medications. But now that sonny boy is in the hospital after an encounter with the police, Dad sees a windfall in his future, so he goes out looking for witnesses and starts accusing the police of murder. He sounds like an opportunistic scumbag.

Your comment is one of someone who is not familiar with the current state of our mental health system. After a mentally ill person turns 18, there is no control over the metally ill person unless they pose and IMMEDIATE danger to themselves or others or obviously cannot care for themeselves, evidenced by starvation, nudity, or risky behaviors. Disheveled, disorganized and walking the streets with the occaional loud shout doesnt make count. Neither does eating out of trash cans and sleeping under bridges.

Dad could not do anything. There are millions who are similarly hamstrung.


112 posted on 07/28/2011 2:56:40 PM PDT by Chickensoup (In the 20th century 200 million people were killed by their own governments.)
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To: Dutchboy88
nooo... lets get rid of BAD cops! or do you have a problem with that???
113 posted on 07/28/2011 3:16:22 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: walkingdead

Okay, so you have held court and finished the trial? Thanks for saving us the trouble of finding out any facts.


114 posted on 07/28/2011 3:16:28 PM PDT by Dutchboy88
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To: Dutchboy88

Uh.. First of all the police are the ones who haven’t produced the video. Secondly, the rest of us have seen what the guys face looked like before he died. Maybe you should go to the link and take a closer look at it. No one claims he has a weapon. No one is even claiming he committed any crime. The police INITIALLY said two of the officers received broken bones in the “scuffle” and then retracted that statement and said they suffered “soft tissue damage.” The police INITIALLY released the mug shot of a different guy completely, a guy that looked like some sort of hard ass AND THEN RETRACTED THAT TOO. Now THREE WEEKS LATER the DA is just now getting around to looking for WITNESSES.

Give it a break. The whole thing stinks. The witnesses reactions at the time, coupled with the man crying out for HIS FATHER for Chrissakes, coupled with the images of his pulverized face, coupled with THE FACT THAT HE DIED is enough for most of us. Every crime doesn’t need to be caught on video to be persuasive.


115 posted on 07/28/2011 3:30:30 PM PDT by Smogger
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To: Dutchboy88

“What is sickening is that this junk gets an audience.”

Yeah, lets just ignore things like this. Cops are always right 100% of the time, right? They were getting their jollies killng that poor man, and you know it.


116 posted on 07/28/2011 3:40:51 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: Dutchboy88
The small word, “resisted” is so underplayed here that we know better than to fall for this left-wing (or is it right-wing?) ploy. The previous assault with a deadly weapon charge is also ignored.

Is that an excuse to kill him?

117 posted on 07/28/2011 3:43:05 PM PDT by Sarajevo (The only reason I would take up walking is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.)
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To: Smogger

The cops in this country are getting more and more out of control.


118 posted on 07/28/2011 3:47:06 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: Elendur

“the media DID ignore this. i’ve only seen it in British papers. (sadly, an increasingly common pattern).”

Because he was white and male, thats why.


119 posted on 07/28/2011 3:49:13 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: Chickensoup

Right, I understand that the father had no legal control over his 37 year old son. I did note this comment in another (more dispassionate) article:

“Ron Thomas said his son, who was supposed to be taking medication, had likely not been taking his medication “for a long time” and didn’t understood officer’s commands.”

( http://www.ocregister.com/news/thomas-309917-police-son.html )

It seems to me that someone who really cared about his son, and knew that he wasn’t up to date on his medications to the point where he couldn’t understand what people said to him, would report the man to the mental health authorities before he got involved in an altercation. It seems to me that Dad had some previous knowledge and experience that his son had gotten out of control in the past while off his meds. I believe Dad holds some responsibility for what happened, simply because he didn’t tell the authorities that his son was dangerous and needed to be taken off the streets.

Of course I don’t know any more than anyone else, but that one quote rang the alarm bells for me.


120 posted on 07/28/2011 3:57:12 PM PDT by Tarantulas ( Illegal immigration - the trojan horse that's treated like a sacred cow)
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