NSFW: Security footage of Fullerton police beating and killing Kelly Thomas

[OnfiyA]

I'm not sure if you guys are aware of Kelly Thomas but by the description of the youtube comment.

Security camera footage showing the police beating of Kelly Thomas, a mentally ill homeless man, at a Fullerton, California bus depot on the night of July 5, 2011. The altercation begins at 15:20.

Fullerton police officer Manuel Ramos was charged with second-degree murder in Thomas' death, and Cpl. Jay Cicinelli faces involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force charges.

Video provided by the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

It's pretty hard to watch the entire "beating", but the testimony I'm assuming started yesterday?



~At 25:08, one of the original two officers says, "We ran out of options, so I smashed his face to hell."


Testimony to continue at hearing for CA officers

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A video shows Officer Manuel Ramos and another officer swing at a shirtless Kelly Thomas with their batons and pin him to the ground as he pleads with them to stop.
...
The 33-minute video — which was paired with audio from recordings devices worn by some officers — was shown publicly for the first time Monday in an Orange County courtroom as a judge decides if Ramos and Cpl. Jay Cicinelli will stand trial in the death of Thomas. The hearing resumes on Tuesday.
...
Six Fullerton police officers responded to the incident. All were placed on paid administrative leave and are facing an internal investigation, but only Ramos and Cicinelli were criminally charged.
...
"Officer Ramos was doing not only what he is permitted to do, but what he is required to do," Barnett said.

The FBI launched an investigation to determine if Thomas' civil rights were violated. That probe is ongoing. The city of Fullerton is also conducting an internal investigation.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...2370d7cd71583c




Let's not be too hasty into making conclusions, there are always bad apples that make certain jobs look bad so let's try to make sure we post intelligent, well-thought out things before this becomes a "flame-war" and everyone hates cops

[kratosbrah]

""Dad, help me," Thomas says."

That's sad as ****...

What the **** is wrong with the police in our country..

[F23]

Whoa how did this video suddenly surface now? This case has been developing for a year now.

Hard to watch. Let's see if these cops are actually brought to justice. If they go to jail, jakes on them. They'll be killed.

One of the great things about modern technology is that there are cameras fukking everywhere these days. When cops pull this kind of crap, chances are pretty good now that somebody's going to see it.

[mmaoz]

those cops are going to have a fun time in jail.

[MarauderBB]

Ridiculous...

[Hyruliangoat]

In for ater

[chrisITALIA]

Can't really make out the video (skipping through it) but that's sad as fck. I don't know how people could do this.
They best pepper their angus' in prison.

[Archangel_Lost]

PAID VACATIOSN FOR EVERYONE!!!


But in all srs, before misc cops come in, how about you project your surliness at your fellows before you start throwing around "NOT ALL COPS R LIKE DAT", because after years of hearing about this type of **** every week, it starts to grind, nomsaiyan...

[MarauderBB]

Dude was mentally ill...

Read the ****ing article.

Yeah I did, I actually changed my post right after I read that.

[OnfiyA]

Quite hard to watch and definitely could make someone "rage", I'll bump this up today after the hearing.





CNN Article:

'Help me,' homeless man begs as cops fatally beat him in videotaped incident

(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.

The black-and-white video was played during a preliminary hearing for the two officers.

It begins with Thomas -- a 37-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia -- sitting and being told by Ramos to put his feet out and hands on his knees.

The officers were responding to a call about a homeless man looking into car windows and pulling on handles of parked cars.

In the video, Thomas is slow to cooperate.

Ramos then tells him: "You see my fists? They're getting ready to f--- you up."

Thomas, who is unarmed and shirtless, stands and another officer walks over. They hit him with their batons and hold him on the ground as he begs for help.

"Ok, I'm sorry, dude. I'm sorry!" he screams. At one point, Thomas says he can't breathe. The officers tell him to lie on his stomach, put his hands behind his back and relax.

"Ok, here, here, dude, please!" he says.

Other officers arrive.

At times, trees block the view of the camera and it's not always clear who is doing what as officers pile on top of Thomas.

One uses a Taser stun gun.

Thomas cries out for help and. toward the end of the beating, for his father: "Dad! Help me. Help me. Help me, dad."

His voice gets softer and trails off.

By the end of the video, he is lying in a pool of blood as the officers wonder out loud what to do next.

One can be heard saying: "We ran out of options so I got to the end of my Taser and I ... smashed his face to hell."

Thomas suffered brain injuries, facial fractures, rib fractures, and extensive bruising and abrasions, according to prosecutors.

The Orange County coroner listed his manner of death as a homicide and said he died after having his chest compressed, leaving him unable to breathe.

The FBI is investigating possible civil rights violations in his case.

Six Fullerton officers, including Ramos and Cicinelli, were put on paid leave after his death. The case drew widespread attention to the police department of Fullerton, located about 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/08/us/cal...ing/index.html

[JordanBrah]

Don't know much about this story but I do know that these cops are animals and hope their anguses are peppered for prison. Vid was disturbing.

Is every cop in America overweight?

[Ace Thedics]

""Dad, help me," Thomas says."

That's sad as ****...

What the **** is wrong with the police in our country..

x2.

I love how these idiots believe that they have the ultimate power whether someone lives or dies (not all of them).

Brb can't move arm to fast when pulled over or I may be shot.

[N4th4n]

stop fuking whinging and bitching and crying over the injustice and do something about it.

or STFU

[Ace Thedics]

stop fuking whinging and bitching and crying over the injustice and do something about it.

or STFU

Like what? Lead a revolution?


How about you shut the fuk up?

[MichaelBb6]

Threads like this really rustle my jimmies..

[SystemTrend]

Brb can't move arm to fast when pulled over or I may be shot.

what do you expect man? they have to deal with scumbags every single day, wouldn't you be on edge too?

[OnfiyA]

Wikipedia's entry on "Death of Kelly Thomas"


The incident

On July 5, 2011, at about 8:30 PM, officers of the Fullerton Police Department responded to a call of someone vandalizing cars near the Fullerton Transportation Center. While investigating, they encountered the shirtless and disheveled Thomas and attempted to search him. According to statements given by the officers, Thomas was uncooperative and resisted when they attempted to search him, so backup was called. The officers then repeatedly shocked Thomas with Tasers, beat him with the butts of the Tasers and flashlights, and slammed him into the ground.[10] A video of the event surfaced, and Thomas can be heard repeatedly screaming in pain while officers tasered him (up to five times according to a witness statement) in the video, and screaming "Dad! Dad!".[11] Six officers were involved in subduing Thomas, who was unarmed and had a history of mental illness. Thomas was initially taken to St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton but was transferred immediately to the UC Irvine Medical Center with severe injuries to his head, face, and neck.[12]

Orange County district attorney Tony Rackauckas gave a detailed account of the events during a press conference on September 21, 2011. Using digital audio recording devices carried by the officers, surveillance video from a pole camera at the Fullerton Transportation Center, and other evidence, Rackauckas was able to show that Thomas did comply with orders from Officer Ramos, who had put on latex gloves and asked Thomas "Now see my fists? They are getting ready to **** you up".[13] Rackauckas went on to describe how Thomas begged for his life, before being beaten to death.[14]

The result:
NSFW Again









It's quite sad, the officers intended to kill him no question about it. The other four officers are awaiting for their trial


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kelly_Thomas

[fishpat86]

I hope those police officers run into a few people they've locked up in jail.

[ubermario]

What a bunch of idiots. What was the problem in the first place. So many cops needed rofl, they only made it harder by beating him up.

[Equilibrah]

Edit - Seeing the above pictures and reading the transcript has changed my mind a bit. If that's what they said and did, then they don't deserve protection under any badge of honour, they deserve nothing but a trial.

This might draw a barrage of negs, but I appeal to you to think logically.

Here you have a large guy (compared to the Officer at the start) who they assume is intoxicated. He's showing an array of symptoms of intoxication, from being uncooperative to slurring his words. He disobeys a direct order from the first officer, then appears to get up to run. They try to incapacitate him, by striking his legs, which I think is pretty fair use of force.

Then they obviously subdue him, but can't restrain him for his own safety, or for their own. If they can't control him, he is a danger to himself and others, and you can see them struggling to stop themselves being overpowered let alone gain control of him. So the obvious next decision is to use the TASER. They didn't go straight for this option, preferring to try and physically restrain him first.

At no point did they have him restrained and physically assaulted him while he was physically restrained (that I saw).

He repeated "I can't breathe, I can't breathe", but also repeated other phrases all the while they were still trying to maintain the physical advantage and minimise the risk he was creating.

At one point he had 6 Officers trying to overpower him, and he was still struggling to resist his arms being put behind his back. Even if they saw blood or a bleeding wound, they can't just stop trying to subdue him and assume that he gives up because he's bleeding and will co-operate with them?

I'm not pro-Enforcement, but this isn't one of the cases I have seen before where obvious malice and violence has taken precedence over a Policeman's duty of care. If he was cuffed and they were TASERing him, or kicking him in the head then I would also obviously be outraged. But they were trying to do their jobs here, obviously underpowered against this unfortunate guy.

Think for a minute what would happen if it went the other way, if he had overpowered a single officer or even both, and turned a TASER, Baton, or even a Gun on one of them. Then there would have been calls that they didn't use enough force, and that constitutes bad policing as well.

At the end of the day, they're there to do their jobs - and they're damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

Edit - Seeing the above pictures and reading the transcript has changed my mind a bit. If that's what they said and did, then they don't deserve protection under any badge of honour, they deserve nothing but a trial.

[SystemTrend]

This might draw a barrage of negs, but I appeal to you to think logically.

Here you have a large guy (compared to the Officer at the start) who they assume is intoxicated. He's showing an array of symptoms of intoxication, from being uncooperative to slurring his words. He disobeys a direct order from the first officer, then appears to get up to run. They try to incapacitate him, by striking his legs, which I think is pretty fair use of force.

Then they obviously subdue him, but can't restrain him for his own safety, or for their own. If they can't control him, he is a danger to himself and others, and you can see them struggling to stop themselves being overpowered let alone gain control of him. So the obvious next decision is to use the TASER. They didn't go straight for this option, preferring to try and physically restrain him first.

At no point did they have him restrained and physically assaulted him while he was physically restrained (that I saw).

He repeated "I can't breathe, I can't breathe", but also repeated other phrases all the while they were still trying to maintain the physical advantage and minimise the risk he was creating.

At one point he had 6 Officers trying to overpower him, and he was still struggling to resist his arms being put behind his back. Even if they saw blood or a bleeding wound, they can't just stop trying to subdue him and assume that he gives up because he's bleeding and will co-operate with them?


I'm not pro-Enforcement, but this isn't one of the cases I have seen before where obvious malice and violence has taken precedence over a Policeman's duty of care. If he was cuffed and they were TASERing him, or kicking him in the head then I would also obviously be outraged. But they were trying to do their jobs here, obviously underpowered against this unfortunate guy.

Think for a minute what would happen if it went the other way, if he had overpowered a single officer or even both, and turned a TASER, Baton, or even a Gun on one of them. Then there would have been calls that they didn't use enough force, and that constitutes bad policing as well.

At the end of the day, they're there to do their jobs - and they're damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

I agree

[OnfiyA]

...KCAL9 News spoke with Steve Meister, a criminal defense attorney and former L.A. County prosecutor, and Timothy Williams Jr, a police procedures expert and former LAPD detective, about the video and how it will impact the case.

“Look how many officers it took for him to stay still – five,” Meister remarked while watching the video. “An unmedicated schizo who was obviously capable to fight 5 officers who are trained to take down… That presents a danger.”

“In my opinion, all of this was excessive force,” Williams said. “I’ve been in altercations and I know it doesn’t take all that to control someone who was unarmed.”

“Even though charges are about how this ended, the case is about how it started,” Meister said.

He added that, if there is a trial, the video will be presented in two different ways: first, showing officers in a dangerous situation, and, on the flipside, officers over-reacting.

VIDEO: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/video...clipId=7179326

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/...hown-in-court/

[MyBodyIsRdy420]

I don't care what anyone says, they deserve life in prison. There is no excuse for this, none.

[N4th4n]

Like what? Lead a revolution?


How about you shut the fuk up?

leading a revolution would probably take less energy than what you expend while bitching and crying about it.

[JordanBrah]

This might draw a barrage of negs, but I appeal to you to think logically.

Here you have a large guy (compared to the Officer at the start) who they assume is intoxicated. He's showing an array of symptoms of intoxication, from being uncooperative to slurring his words. He disobeys a direct order from the first officer, then appears to get up to run. They try to incapacitate him, by striking his legs, which I think is pretty fair use of force.

Then they obviously subdue him, but can't restrain him for his own safety, or for their own. If they can't control him, he is a danger to himself and others, and you can see them struggling to stop themselves being overpowered let alone gain control of him. So the obvious next decision is to use the TASER. They didn't go straight for this option, preferring to try and physically restrain him first.

At no point did they have him restrained and physically assaulted him while he was physically restrained (that I saw).

He repeated "I can't breathe, I can't breathe", but also repeated other phrases all the while they were still trying to maintain the physical advantage and minimise the risk he was creating.

At one point he had 6 Officers trying to overpower him, and he was still struggling to resist his arms being put behind his back. Even if they saw blood or a bleeding wound, they can't just stop trying to subdue him and assume that he gives up because he's bleeding and will co-operate with them?

I'm not pro-Enforcement, but this isn't one of the cases I have seen before where obvious malice and violence has taken precedence over a Policeman's duty of care. If he was cuffed and they were TASERing him, or kicking him in the head then I would also obviously be outraged. But they were trying to do their jobs here, obviously underpowered against this unfortunate guy.

Think for a minute what would happen if it went the other way, if he had overpowered a single officer or even both, and turned a TASER, Baton, or even a Gun on one of them. Then there would have been calls that they didn't use enough force, and that constitutes bad policing as well.

At the end of the day, they're there to do their jobs - and they're damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

The officers were responding to a call about a homeless man looking into car windows and pulling on handles of parked cars.

In the video, Thomas is slow to cooperate.

Ramos then tells him: "You see my fists? They're getting ready to f--- you up."

Thomas, who is unarmed and shirtless, stands and another officer walks over. They hit him with their batons and hold him on the ground as he begs for help.

That pretty much writes off everything you just said.

EDIT: Nvm you edited.

[chris34513451]

stop fuking whinging and bitching and crying over the injustice and do something about it.

or STFU

not sure if srs

Rep Power: 707

[Equilibrah]

That pretty much writes off everything you just said.

It's not a case I have been following, I have only the video to go by. I edited my OP to reflect this. If they did indeed say and perform these actions, then that changes my perspective obviously.

[ubermario]

This might draw a barrage of negs, but I appeal to you to think logically.

Here you have a large guy (compared to the Officer at the start) who they assume is intoxicated. He's showing an array of symptoms of intoxication, from being uncooperative to slurring his words. He disobeys a direct order from the first officer, then appears to get up to run. They try to incapacitate him, by striking his legs, which I think is pretty fair use of force.

He wasn't about to run, he saw the officer with a raised baton and excpected to get hit, so you get into a defensive position. No need to just start hitting him just yet.

Edit: I see you edited your post.

[SystemTrend]

sounds like the guy was a low life thief/vandal, no sympathy for him from me but the officers used too much force no doubt.

[Ace Thedics]

leading a revolution would probably take less energy than what you expend while bitching and crying about it.

Yeah, you go grab some pitch forks, tough guy.

sounds like the guy was a low life thief/vandal, no sympathy for him from me but the officers used too much force no doubt.

The guy was a mentally unstable homeless person. I'd love to see you fare better if you were equally as nutty.