Watching The Cops
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Title: Kelly Thomas death: 1 cop in jail, 1 on bail [Cops MURDERED Homeless, Harmless Man]
Source:
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URL Source: http://www.ocregister.com/news/deat ... 70%7Cmet:300%7Ccat:0%7Corder:2
Published: Sep 22, 2011
Author: DOUG IRVING, LARRY WELBORN, DENISSE SALA
Post Date: 2011-09-22 12:22:27 by Capitalist Eric
Keywords: None
Views: 12864
Comments: 23
Fullerton Police officer Manuel Ramos looks back at attorneys as the arraignment hearing begins for him and fellow officer Jay Cicinelli in Orange County Superior Court Wednesday.
Orange County prosecutors charged a Fullerton police officer with murder on Wednesday, saying he launched a lethal assault on a homeless man with the words: “My fists … are getting ready to f--- you up.” A second officer, accused of repeatedly smashing victim Kelly Thomas in the face with a Taser, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced.
It is one of the first times – if not the first time – that Orange County prosecutors have charged an on-duty police officer with murder.
Thomas, 37, a homeless man with a well-documented history of schizophrenia, died five days after his bloody encounter in July with police outside the Fullerton bus depot. A photograph of his face after the beating, disfigured with bruises, brought national attention to his death.
Officer Manuel Ramos, the first officer to confront Thomas, was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter and was being held in lieu of $1 million bail. He appeared briefly in court on Wednesday, in handcuffs, and is scheduled to enter a plea on Monday. He faces a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison.
Cpl. Jay Cicinelli, who prosecutors say joined the beating and shocked Thomas four times with a Taser, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force under the color of authority. He was released on $25,000 bail. He faces a possible sentence of four years in prison if convicted.
Rackauckas said the officers delivered a barrage of blows to Thomas’ head and body as he cried out for his father and told them, “I’m sorry.” He said the beating began when Ramos confronted Thomas with fists raised and told him, “Now see my fists? They are getting ready to f--- you up.”
Thomas answered: “Start punching, dude,” according to the District Attorney’s account.
“Ramos instilled in that victim fear, a reasonable fear for his life, that he was in danger and he was in danger by a police officer who wanted to F him up with his fists,” Rackauckas said.
Four other officers who were placed on administrative leave and under investigation after Thomas’ death will not face criminal charges. Rackauckas said his office’s investigation did not find criminal wrongdoing on their part. All six officers remain on administrative leave until the department decides whether to take administrative action against them, Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said.
Thomas died because of the force of the officers on his chest, which made it impossible to breathe, Rackauckas said in announcing the charges. Thomas fell unconscious, then slipped into a coma, and died when he was taken off life support five days later. The injuries to his face and head, Rackauckas said, contributed to his death.
Fullerton police have said officers were investigating a report of car burglaries when they stopped Thomas and tried to search him. In its account, the District Attorney’s Office said Thomas sat as ordered but didn’t follow Ramos’ command that he keep his hands on his knees. Ramos held up his fists, exchanged words with Thomas, and then grabbed his arm.
Thomas pulled away and ran. “Then the baton came out,” Rackauckas said. Ramos, 37, is a 10-year veteran of the Fullerton Police Department. Cicinelli, 39, is a 12-year veteran in Fullerton. As a rookie officer in Los Angeles, he was shot during a traffic stop in 1996 and lost one of his eyes. Ramos’ attorney, John Barnett, described the district attorney’s charges as “shocking” and said they would have a lingering effect on public safety in Orange County. “Officers will worry that their actions could lead to charges being filed against them,” he said. “He is being prosecuted for doing his job. It’s just wrong.”
Rackauckas opened his remarks by noting that “the public has been crying for justice for Kelly.” He said his office has been “in pursuit of the truth” since the week of Thomas’ death, an investigation that involved interviewing 151 witnesses and examining physical evidence, including batons and Tasers. Kelly Thomas’ father, Ron, has demanded murder charges and has said at least some of the officers involved in the death of his son should face the death penalty. After Wednesday’s brief court hearing, he said Ramos “looks afraid now.”
“I feel they both looked today like cowards,” Thomas added. “They acted like cowards.”
Prosecutors will have to prove that Ramos displayed “implied malice” during the beating of Kelly Thomas in order to win a guilty verdict on second-degree murder. A jury will have to find that his actions were so inherently dangerous that death was a likely outcome.
Ramos was also charged with the lesser crime of involuntary manslaughter as a fall-back, in case the jury does not find him guilty of murder. Legal experts say prosecutors often face a challenge in convincing a jury to convict a police officer. In part, that’s because defense attorneys often seek to cast what happened as a split-second decision made in the midst of a confusing and dangerous situation.
“Most jurors think it’s a tough job, it’s a job (they) wouldn’t want,” said Lawrence Rosenthal, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor at Chapman University. “(They think) if I made a mistake, I wouldn’t want to be charged as a criminal. And defense attorneys exploit that.”
At Fullerton’s City Hall, City Manager Joe Felz and three council members watched the district attorney’s news conference on live television with Michael Gennaco, an independent investigator hired by the city.
“We are delighted this has come forth,” Mayor F. Richard Jones said. “The DA has done an outstanding job of presenting this. ... He was very succinct and clear. ... It’s a tragedy for the officers, for the Thomas family and for the city.”
Councilwoman Sharon Quirk-Silva described the details in the district attorney’s presentation as “very emotional and disturbing.” She said she wants a citizens’ oversight committee to oversee the police department: “We definitely need a layer there, not only for the public but for the police.” Gennaco, the outside expert hired by the city, is examining the Fullerton Police Department's training, use-of-force policies and methods for dealing with homeless and mentally ill people. The FBI is also probing Thomas' death. “This has been a tragic event for Kelly Thomas, the Thomas family, the community, the police department and for all those who are involved,” Capt. Kevin Hamilton, Fullerton’s acting police chief, said in a prepared statement.
Poster Comment:
They beat this kid to death. He was mentally ill, but completely harmless, and they beat him for fun. These bastards need to spend some serious "up-close-and-personal-time" in the general prison population.
In case you don't know what this kid looked like, let me show you the before and after photos:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
(3 images)
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Here are the two tough-guys that killed this kid for their entertainment:
"Fullerton, Calif., police officers Jay Cicinelli, left, and Manuel Ramos are shown in these booking photos..."
To :Skippy, toe-jam, old man Fred Alzheimers Mertz, _jim, loonymom/ming, e-type-jackoff, goober56, Wrek, calcon, dummy DwarF, continental op, Biff, gobsheit and meguro
From: Capitalist Eric Message:
You're SOCIALIST morons. ESAD.
#2. To: Capitalist Eric (#0)
...but completely harmless
Disagree there, but the LEOs deserve the murder charge.
#3. To: Capitalist Eric (#0)
They beat this kid to death. He was mentally ill, but completely harmless, and they beat him for fun.
Thomas, 37, a homeless man with a well-documented history of schizophrenia...
That he was murdered is one crime; that he was mentally ill and homeless is the other crime.
"...all of the equations in neoclassical economics are rubbish. The differential equations describe nothing. Economics is not about mathematics, it is about the human being." Sandeep Jaitly
#4. To: socalv8 (#2)
IIRC the victim weighed 138 pounds. That's pretty harmless to me.
#5. To: lucysmom (#3)
Thomas, 37, a homeless man with a well-documented history of schizophrenia...That he was murdered is one crime; that he was mentally ill and homeless is the other crime.
The tazering was probably actually amping the guy up. Some types of schizos don't react predictably to certain stimuli.
#6. To: socalv8 (#2)
You should have heard the interviews of Kelly Thomas' friends, mom and dad, and his sister......
And then hear the audio tapes of him screaming, crying his dad's name, just before killed him...............
This kid was a 130# scarecrow, because he was suffering from malnutrition, while Ramos is nearly 300# by himself...
To :Skippy, toe-jam, old man Fred Alzheimers Mertz, _jim, loonymom/ming, e-type-jackoff, goober56, Wrek, calcon, dummy DwarF, continental op, Biff, gobsheit and meguro
From: Capitalist Eric Message:
You're SOCIALIST morons. ESAD.
#7. To: Fred Mertz (#4)
IIRC the victim weighed 138 pounds. That's pretty harmless to me.
Julio César Chávez, Oscar De La Hoya, Arturo Gatti and Floyd Mayweather Jr all fought at 138lbs...
Also. If you were a skid row dentist, would you wear gloves? ;)
No pulse bearing body is harmless.
#8. To: Capitalist Eric (#6)
You should have heard the interviews of Kelly Thomas' friends, mom and dad, and his sister......
I did and I agree with the murder charge...but nobody is harmless.
It isn't important to the thread and I shouldn't have quipped it.
#9. To: socalv8 (#7)
I'd take all four on but not all at once.
#10. To: mininggold (#5)
The tazering was probably actually amping the guy up. Some types of schizos don't react predictably to certain stimuli.
Law and the lack of coordinated care make the mentally ill victims as well as a potential danger.
"...all of the equations in neoclassical economics are rubbish. The differential equations describe nothing. Economics is not about mathematics, it is about the human being." Sandeep Jaitly
#11. To: lucysmom (#3)
that he was mentally ill and homeless is the other crime.
His family had tried for YEARS to help him... give him a good home, help him take his meds..... and after about 6 weeks, the meds would take effect, and he'd be essentially a normally-functioning person.
But because he felt fine, eventually he'd decide to go off the meds, and revert back to his unstable behavior. This cycle, as I understand it, had gone on for years...
At one point, his family explored the possibility of him being taken into custody (of some sort) to help him stay on the meds. But because he was legally an adult, and hadn't done anything to imply a threat to anyone else, or endanger himself, there was no legal basis to allow him to be detained for any reason...... So he'd wander between friends and family houses, sleep over for 1-2 days, and then move on... and all they could do was support him as much as he would allow...
It was a sad situation, but strangely (IMO) his family said he was happy with that arrangement, and that he felt free...
I suppose- in one sense- he was more free than most of us, who're shackled to the typical attitudes of society...
Any way I see it, his death was tragic, and so completely unnecessary. It didn't have to end this way...
What made it an outrage, was the overt cover-up by the local city council, the police chief, and so on.... nobody really believed the O.C. DA would have the stones to go after these thugs...
To :Skippy, toe-jam, old man Fred Alzheimers Mertz, _jim, loonymom/ming, e-type-jackoff, goober56, Wrek, calcon, dummy DwarF, continental op, Biff, gobsheit and meguro
From: Capitalist Eric Message:
You're SOCIALIST morons. ESAD.
#12. To: mininggold (#5)
The tazering was probably actually amping the guy up.
The other cop is being charged with "Excessive Force," because the kid was tazered after he was already on the ground, with the fat cop sitting on his back, beating him...
After the other JBT tazed him five times, then turned him over, clubbing his face with the butt of the tazer pistol, until he'd shattered the bones in the kids' face. By that point, the kid was already unconscious, and literally drowning in his own blood... Of course, all the while, the cops are yelling "stop resisting," which of course was absurd, because the kid was already out...
To :Skippy, toe-jam, old man Fred Alzheimers Mertz, _jim, loonymom/ming, e-type-jackoff, goober56, Wrek, calcon, dummy DwarF, continental op, Biff, gobsheit and meguro
From: Capitalist Eric Message:
You're SOCIALIST morons. ESAD.
#13. To: Capitalist Eric (#0)
Notice the suction tube from the lungs filled with blood. Generally means multiple broken ribs.
#14. To: Capitalist Eric (#11)
At one point, his family explored the possibility of him being taken into custody (of some sort) to help him stay on the meds. But because he was legally an adult, and hadn't done anything to imply a threat to anyone else, or endanger himself, there was no legal basis to allow him to be detained for any reason...... So he'd wander between friends and family houses, sleep over for 1-2 days, and then move on... and all they could do was support him as much as he would allow...
Having been in the position of trying to get help for someone with schizophrenia, I know the frustration.
"...all of the equations in neoclassical economics are rubbish. The differential equations describe nothing. Economics is not about mathematics, it is about the human being." Sandeep Jaitly
#15. To: mininggold (#13) (Edited)
Notice the suction tube from the lungs filled with blood. Generally means multiple broken ribs.
The coroners' report says the primary of death was due to being crushed by the cops. Of course, had he not died from that, he'd also suffered brain damage caused by his face being crushed with a tazer-pistol butt...
As to the tube, it tracks. I'll have to defer to you on this- it's simply outside my area of knowledge...
To :Skippy, toe-jam, old man Fred Alzheimers Mertz, _jim, loonymom/ming, e-type-jackoff, goober56, Wrek, calcon, dummy DwarF, continental op, Biff, gobsheit and meguro
From: Capitalist Eric Message:
You're SOCIALIST morons. ESAD.
#16. To: Capitalist Eric (#6)
To :Skippy, toe-jam, old man Fred Alzheimers Mertz, _jim, loonymom/ming, e-type-jackoff, goober56, Wrek, calcon, dummy DwarF, continental op, Biff, gobsheit and meguro From: Capitalist Eric Message: You're SOCIALIST morons. ESAD.
kiss my lily white ass, you homeless little prick
#17. To: calcon (#16)
You're the only one he seems to like...
America...My Kind Of Place...
"I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..."
--GW Bush
"THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!"
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
I lurk to see if someone other than Myst or Pookie posts anything...
#18. To: war (#17)
You're the only one he seems to like...
No Zionistas are on that list.
#19. To: mininggold (#18)
Since I suppressed taglines here, I didn't realize until now that I made CE's list. And I have Alzheimers to boot. That Eric guy must be the life of the party if he ever gets invited to one.
#20. To: Fred Mertz (#19)
Me too which is why I laugh when people bitch about mine...
America...My Kind Of Place...
"I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..."
--GW Bush
"THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!"
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
I lurk to see if someone other than Myst or Pookie posts anything...
#21. To: Capitalist Eric (#1)
"Fullerton, Calif., police officers Jay Cicinelli, left, and Manuel Ramos
Just wondering - what did these two animals do before they became "cops?"
Does anyone have any idea?
#22. To: war (#17)
please erica bozo'd me months ago
#23. To: Crapitalist Erica (#16) (Edited)
To :...... MR E-TYPE-JAG-, ....From: Capitalist Eric Message: You're blah drone blah....drone....yada yada....
So Ericunt.....somebody posted your latest scrill above though you were long ago bozoed by i think pretty much ....everyone here on LF....BBBWWWAAAHHHAAAA!!
And here I was hoping you hadn't made it past last winter's hard life eeking it out in the dumpster:)
Best be careful you punkass proven lying fraud of a hundred careers and a hundred "degrees"....lest some jack boot stop his car under your overpass, walk up the embankment to your encampment and bitch slap your second hand dentures right outta your slack jaw.
Spit. Now FOAD.
Death to everybody who does not get outta my way. (decided to retire the beatdowns on old worthless retread posters that are bozoed)
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