Posted on 07/29/2011 1:50:24 PM PDT by FoxPro
A video surfaced this week allegedly showing police officers in Fullerton tasering and beating a homeless man to death. The police claim 37 year-old Kelly Thomas was resisting arrest. Though the video is not clear, eye witnesses say Thomas didn't put up a fight. Read more on Daily Mail UK.com
UPDATE: Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson has made a formal request to the Department of Justice to investigate the death of Kelly Thomas who died after a fight with Fullerton police. You can read more on OC Register.com
A protest and candlelight vigil will be held for Kelly Thomas on Saturday July 30th.
Protest:
Saturday 9:00am 1:00pm
Fullerton Police Dept
237 W Commonwealth Ave
Fullerton, CA 92832
Evening candlelight vigil:
Saturday 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Fullerton City Hall
303 W. Commonwealth
Fullerton, CA 92832
WATCH VIDEO OF THE BEATING:
We need a new way to police ourselves.
Has any surveillance camera video of the incident surfaced yet?
Used to be you considered Cops as your friends...I don’t know anymore. This beating the crap out of everyone is an epidemic. Indicative of our “CHANGE” to a police state, I guess.
It wasn’t a fight, it was a brutal beating that ended in a coma and death three days later.
The police are still your friend.
They’ve just have become the type of friend that, when you were in elementary school, you’d give him your lunch money every single day.
listened to the angry people on kfi.
Be sure to look for the union label.
This police department needs to be flushed from the top down.
I think the “CHANGE” was in police doctrine, which discourages or prohibits personal contact with a suspect, i.e. fighting or struggling with him. Instead, they demand compliance, and if they are not satisfied with the response they beat or tase the suspect.
This was evident in the Rodney King beating, and it’s why the officers “got off” ... they were doing as they were taught to do.
Don’t you think some policemen have their “life or death situation” paranoia triggered more often than others? That said, there is no excuse for a gang-style beat-down like this.
Its becoming classic.
So many things happen the same way. They beat the guy they tase the guy and all the time screaming for the guy to stop resisting, The screaming for them to stop resisting is for the benefit of the witnesses.How much resisting can one guy do against 6 trained cops. take away the Aluminum flashlights and go back to the Billy clubs, they don’t do the damage those flashlight can do. It’s like being hit with a weighted pipe. 6 grown men wailing away on a single man with weighted pipes can do some bad damage.
I’ve watched this video twice, in 1080p. The video is worthless. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s hyped up because the guys taking the video just want to be “famous.” Note that they do brag that they’ve got some good “YouTube” video.
Again, this video proves nothing. The “evidence” supporting “police brutality” has to come from elsewhere.
I have seen the photos of the guy after the beating, and they are brutal. I don’t see any reason why police would have to hurt him so much, to be frank. They do seem guilty of overreacting, of doing more than simply arresting the man.
But this VIDEO proves nothing.
http://morallowground.com/2011/07/28/kelly-thomas-homeless-schizophrenic-beaten-to-death-by-fullerton-ca-police-victims-ex-cop-father-calls-it-cold-blooded-murder/
It's the tazer mentality. Used to be cops would talk someone down. Now they just taze them, and when the victim screams, why, that's resisting - so they taze them again. And when the victim then thrashes around, why, then they need backup, which jumps the person, tazes them, and beats the sh!t out of them with flashlights, until they are half-dead and unconscious. To make sure they are no longer a threat, the unconscious body is then tazed a few more times to see if it twitches. A couple of kicks confirms the kill, and then the dangerous criminal is cited for resisting arrest and endangering officers.
And if you complain, they break into your house and shoot you 72 times.
This NEEDS to stop. For all of the crap cops get, Americans generally have trusted them and looked to them to be pretty reliably upstanding. I'm not being naive - I know there's lots of bad stories. But that HAS been the general attitude towards police, genuine respect for them doing a difficult job. But these stories are getting more and more, and worse and worse, in Obama's America. And it's a very, very bad thing. It NEEDS to stop.
“I think the CHANGE was in police doctrine, which discourages or prohibits personal contact with a suspect, i.e. fighting or struggling with him. Instead, they demand compliance, and if they are not satisfied with the response they beat or tase the suspect.
This was evident in the Rodney King beating, and its why the officers got off ... they were doing as they were taught to do.”
I’m sure there are good cops out there, but this seems to be an epidemic all over the country. Some of these “criminals” ask for it for trying to fight, but it isn’t even self defense anymore. Almost preying on helpless people. Just thug beatings because they can get away with it. Someone is directing and training their interaction—I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t federal grants enforcing this police state tactic. This needs to stop—now!
Add Six cops
Result
Of course, I’m not saying the police are innocent.
I *AM* saying that this video shows nothing, other than a couple of guys who are thrilled to be getting their 15 minutes of YouTube fame.
If I were in these officers' shoes, I'd familiarize myself with this statute:
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 13 > § 242
§ 242. Deprivation of rights under color of law
-snip-
and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
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