Caught on tape: Police beat and taser 'gentle' mentally-ill homeless man to death

The Daily Mail ^ | 6:27 PM on 27th July 2011 | RACHEL QUIGLEY

[Smogger]

A shocking video has been released allegedly showing police officers tasering and beating a homeless man to death who they claim was resisting arrest. Though the video is not clear, eye witnesses say the homeless man - Kelly Thomas, 37 - was unable to put up any resistance and was lying on the ground on his front when the attack took place on July 5. His screams and cries for his father can be heard amid the tasering noises.

Graphic photo at link.

[KarlInOhio]

After the fourth tasering was he twitching too much to be cuffed and was therefore tased again for resisting?

This is beginning to look more and more like A Clockwork Orange where Alex's fellow gang members became police officers in the end.

[Yaelle]

Maybe for these cases they need tranq darts or something.

[Elendur]

pul-leeze. did you look at the video?

if 5 guys (FIVE!) couldn’t handle a skinny “resister”,
then we need to hire guys who can.

and my Dad served honorably with the Mesa P.D.
and he, and many good cops around the country,
would be the FIRST to condemn this.

any GOOD organization, polices their OWN.
once you start covering up for criminal conduct...

(2 of those COSTCO police got awarded for killing that West Point grad !)

...and what was the deadly weapon from before?
a TSA nail clipper?

[GingisK]

The previous assault with a deadly weapon charge is also ignored.

No, it wasn't. Neither was the visable facts that the man had long since been subdued, but the beating continued.

[GingisK]

I strongly suspect this guy punched some of the officers during the arrest...

Ah, there is a good reason for the police to kill him! < /sarcasm>

[TalonDJ]

A prior conviction and ‘resisting’ and suddenly this man deserved execution? And execution that would qualify as ‘cruel’ in every sense? Give someone a uniform and some people will justify anything they do. Give someone a tag as a ‘convict’ or other undesirable and some people justify anything done TO them.

[EBH]

After the fourth tasering was he twitching too much to be cuffed and was therefore tased again for resisting?

Uh...that would be a grand mal seizure?

[ClearCase_guy]

One of these days, a bystander in the crowd is just going to cut loose and put a few dead officers on the ground.

The cops, of course, will respond with 78 shots into the crowd in the direction they think the shots came from.

[PoloSec]

No amount of lying scenarios the cops come up with, can justify this. This guy was murdered.

[paul51]

Yeah, they had no choice. A 135 lb guy laying flat on the ground with 6 cops beating the s*** out of him and tasing. This is homicide clear and simple and anyone that justifies this is sick.

[Jack Hydrazine]

It’s amazing how much of science fiction has become and is continuing to become a reality in this country and the rest of the West.

I have to wonder why this schizo wasn’t locked up in the first place to prevent this from happening?

[WayneS]

Something tells me your support for police britality is not going to be too popular here.

PS - If you do not think this incident WAS a case of police brutality then please take the time to explain exactly what six heavily armed officers would have to do to an unarmed man in order to have their actions qualify as brutality.

[WayneS]

This is beginning to look more and more like A Clockwork Orange where Alex's fellow gang members became police officers in the end.

That is exactly what I thought as I read this story and viewed the video.

[EBH]

I have to wonder why this schizo wasn’t locked up in the first place to prevent this from happening?

They cut the funding and we don't do that to the mentally ill anymore unless they are a danger to themselves or society. By all accounts from the article this man was not.

[Sporke]

Not all cops are bad, just most of them.

When 5 or 6 cops are on top of 1 man (135ish pounds), there CAN’T be any resisting. There is NO excuse for tasering a person one time, much less 5 or more.

[Smogger]

The 16 year old charge. Yeah. I’m gonna ignore it. I am also gonna say that I have seen and participated in restraining unarmed people that were drunk/belligerent/mad etc. with less then 6 people without killing the guy or beating them so bad that their face looks like it went through a meat grinder, and none of us were cops.

[commonguymd]

murder. no more. certainly no less.

[B4Ranch]

>>Here we go with another, “The cops are all bad and poor man is totally innocent. Let’s get rid of cops.” rant. Please, spare us. The small word, “resisted” is so underplayed here that we know better than to fall for this left-wing (or is it right-wing?) ploy. The previous assault with a deadly weapon charge is also ignored.<<

Is it just me or did you not see the words “mentally-ill”. I know that “resisting” is a charge that is placed on anyone who doesn’t immediately do as ordered. The “deadly weapon charge” makes me think of the man in Seattle who, deaf in one ear, was carving on a stick with a pocket knife and a local officer shot to death for not obeying his command.

I have no idea what meds these cops were on but you guys need to quit using drugs or whatever your problem is.

By the way, resisting to me is when someone is stomping your butt into a mudhole, not ignoring you.

[Michael.SF.]

Here we go with another, “The cops are all bad and poor man is totally innocent. Let’s get rid of cops.” rant.

I usually find myself on the side of the cops, but in this case there is no justification for what was done to this guy. How you can say what you have is astoundingly callous.

No, let's not get rid of all the cops, just the those involved here who beat a guy to death in public. These guys deserve murder charges.

[GlockThe Vote]

99.9% of the cops I know are overpaid psychos.