Meanwhile, back to the facts in the case...
The testimony of Corporal Rubio, the officers use of force trainer, was key.
He testified:
- the actions were within the department’s policies.
- “the Taser that Cicinelli used on Thomas wasn’t working correctly because Thomas continued to fight and the device made a noise that indicated it was being “ineffective.”
- that after watching the video, Cicinelli hit Thomas three times in the head with the Taser. Officers, he said, are allowed to improvise with their weapons.
-“In the video, all things considered, I don’t see anything out of policy,” Rubio said.
“Defense attorneys also asked Rubio about a part in the video in which Ramos put on white latex gloves and tells Thomas, “See these fists? ... They’re getting ready to f-— you up.”
Prosecutors have identified the moment as the point at which the encounter escalated from routine to deadly.
John Barnett, who is representing Ramos, asked Rubio if his client’s words were consistent with his training.
“Yes, it was a conditional threat,” Rubio said. “The profanity may be off-color and may be a slight policy violation.”
Still the use of words, even profane ones, as a means to avoid endangering an officer or suspect is acceptable, Rubio said.
This is key because the expert brought in from the prosecution stated in court that the officers were entitled to act in accordance with their training.
Also key is the point the defense made to the jury that the city continued to use Corporal Rubio as the use of force trainer even after learning what he would testify to. Asking..”If what he was training these officers was wrong, why didn’t they fire him?”
One more thing.
I was wondering what was in the backpack that Thomas refused to put down and found this:
“On the night of July 5, 2011, Kelly Thomas was in possession of a backpack,” said Hughes. “Inside that backpack was the passport, a computer tablet, mail addressed to an attorney and keys to a Lexus vehicle. None of these items belonged to Kelly Thomas.”
It was later learned after the date of the incident, that the owner of the backpack inadvertently left his backpack in a public place and that the keys, the passport, and the computer tablet belonged to the owner of that backpack, he said.” The attorney stated he had thrown his mail in a trashcan in the area.