Supreme Court, Things That Tick Me Off

Five Fullerton Cops Beat Homeless Man To Death

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old homeless schizophrenic, is shown on the left, after his confrontation with Fullerton California police officers, and on the right before his brutalization. He was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange County in critical condition on life-support and died five days later. Kelly was unarmed, had a slight build, and of medium height.

Witnesses claim that officers continued hitting Kelly with the butts of their flashlights even after he had stopped moving.

Kelly’s father, a retired Orange County sheriff’s deputy, didn’t recognize his son when he visited him at the hospital, and said “This is cold-blooded, aggravated murder.” Kelly’s father said his son was probably off his medication and couldn’t understand the officers’ commands.

An investigation is underway by the Orange County district attorney’s office and witnesses are sought.

In Olmstead v. L.C., the Supreme Court held that, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals with mental disabilities have the right to live in the community rather than in institutions. One consequence is that even people with serious mental disorders, that are controlled by medication, are members of society. The side effects of the medication are claimed to be worse than the illness they’re supposed to treat and individuals are reluctant to continue the treatment.

This incident demonstrates a lack of self-control by the officers who have manifested sociopathic tendencies.

The video below doesn’t show much of what took place but other videos may surface.

H/T: LA Times, Orange County Register, Reason Hit & Run.

123 thoughts on “Five Fullerton Cops Beat Homeless Man To Death”

  1. These animals will walk, just like the savage Johannes Mehserle who murdered Oscar Grant by putting a bullet in his back while he was pinned down by another neanderthal with a badge. Mark Fuhrman boasted “police are like Gods, we can do anything we want”. I guess that racist lying sack of excrement was right.

  2. I think that most are pretty much done with this thread but, if I must, I’ll just have to wait. 🙂

  3. Anon nurse,

    Perhaps we can get some resident attorneys’ opinions first. If not, I will respond later.

  4. Former Federal LEO,

    It would seem to me that they exhibited “extreme indifference to human life”… Why voluntary manslaughter and not murder?

  5. I viewed all of the available YouTube videos regarding this event. I think there is sufficient, credible evidence to charge the officers with voluntary manslaughter–although most likely not murder.

  6. Wow,
    I knew this guy.I gave him a pair of shoes once.These police have a place in hell next to hitler.They pick on the weak thinking no one will care.they are like gang members.I hope he will be waiting for them if there is an afterlife to take revenge.

  7. “Fullerton police chief and the DA’s Office investigator handling the Thomas case” have a cozy relationship, according to the Gawker article posted earlier.

    “And speaking of “absolutely nothing,” that might be what the DA’s investigation amounts to, considering that the Fullerton police chief and the DA’s Office investigator handling the Thomas case seem to be pals. Friends for Fullerton’s Future, which has been documenting much of the goings-on related to Thomas’ case, received a note saying as much:

    [Fullerton police chief ] Michael Sellers and his wife Rita Fraser-Sellers, are close personal friends with [investigator Stan] Berry and his wife, Kristen Berry, the Dispatch Supervisor in Seal Beach. They socialize together, vacation together and entertain each other in their respective homes.

    Of all the DA investigators, why choose Berry, other than he will help cover for his friend.”

  10. “The last thing they will want is a trial with all the attendant publicity that will muster.”

    But that’s what they’re going to get. One pertinent piece of info that seems to have been overlooked is that the dad of this poor guy is…a former Fullerton police officer.

    He knows where all their bodies are buried, he’s not looking for a payday, and a bunch of his former co-workers just killed his son.

    This is going to be a very long process, but I bet a lot of bad cops are going to lose their jobs in the end.

  11. Pete, that is their first offer. You can bet they want to make it go away. The final settlement will have another comma in the number. A wrongful death often goes a little over a million, but this case could run more than that due to the outrage factor. The last thing they will want is a trial with all the attendant publicity that will muster. One wonders how Nancy “law n order” Grace might spin it. Breathlessly of course.

    Do not be surprised if defense lawyers for the department request that depositions be sealed from public scrutiny.

  13. Yes, I agree with the last few comments. I was really injured by the false finding that I had sex with Jane Bennett by molesting her. A woman I would barely recognize and was never alone with whose statements under penalty of perjury were contradicted by her own employees a week later. She said I had gone on her property and all her employees were afraid of me. They testified they never saw me on her property and weren’t afraid of me at all. She even told the police that I was very careful not to go on her property. That is in the police report. All she cared about was money and her drug dealer husband Kevin Bennett was a bully who carried a gun around and reportedly threatened to shoot the family of someone who wanted to buy my extra lot because he was afraid it would hurt his view. But of course he didn’t want to buy the lot or the development rights, he wanted to get them for free by being a bully to me and to our school aged children. And he was president of the city council in Steamboat Springs Colorado, which presents itself as being a great place to live.

    Years ago bullies in government used to worry about being sued. That was when we had federal courts led by Thurgood Marshall. Now, all we have are courts for businesses and a government that claims they can imprison citizens without a criminal charge. Now they claim that prosecutors can do whatever they want, lie as much as they want, fabricate evidence, and skip all the steps and do so for their own financial benefit and that they have “immunity” for doing so.

  15. What do you expect from bullies in High School who steal lunch money from the weak and those who could not defend themselves? Later no compulsion of writing a ticket that steals thousands of dollars when they pull someone over for a split second decision on a red light. Beating a poor defenseless person to death is an easy next step for a bully.

  17. Lottakatz,

    Thanks for the Courthouse News Service posting.

    From the article:

    “This act of calling the Alabaster Wal-Mart by the Loss Prevention Officer of Adamsville Wal-Mart, was intentional, with malice, and made with the intention of causing the plaintiff to suffer with a bad reputation or to suffer consequences of being labeled a thief. …
    “As a result of being in jail and being accused of being a thief, plaintiff Mary Hill Bonin lost her home, her car, all of her personal belongings and her husband was deported. Mary Hill Bonin seeks punitive damages for loss of income, loss of personal property, lost profits, lost time and imprisonment, libel and slander, mental anguish, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false arrest, malicious prosecution, slander, negligence and conversion.” And she wants Wal-Mart enjoined from searching and accusing customers without proof.”

    This sort of thing is becoming systemic. When a Walmart guard is able to overrule an assistant manager and set in motion a chain of events with the disastrous consequences described in the article, something is terribly wrong. This story has its own bells and whistles, but there is more of this kind of thing going on than many realize.

    (I hope that things are better on the home-front with your cats.)

  18. anon nurse, thanks for the link. It is about time the FBI looked into that apparent murder of the mentally ill man.

  20. Most of the Cops I come in contact in Fullerton are pretty good guys. The new police chief Mike Sellers was a teacher of mine and seemed odd, but ok. The former Chief Pat McKinnley I think is at the heart of this atrocity. The general mood of most police departments is based on the policies of the upper management. There are many good cops on the Fullerton Police Department. However this situation shows that some of the more experienced cops allowed and promoted this problem. I wonder who the officers are.

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