Posted on 08/17/2011 2:12:42 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
FULLERTON, Calif. (KTLA) -- Fullerton's city council has voted to hire a police watchdog to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of mentally-ill homeless man, Kelly Thomas, after a violent confrontation with six officers.
Council members voted 4-1 Tuesday night to hire Michael Gennaco, chief attorney for the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review, at upwards of $230 an hour.
Gennaco said he would immediately begin his investigation into the entire department -- not just Thomas' death -- to see if there's any corruption.
The decision came after a heated meeting involving enraged community members who booed, heckled and even threatened Mayor F. Richard Jones and city council members.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Up until now, supporters and the media have given Mr. Thomas a pass on his comments, such as demanding the death penalty for the police officers in question -- saying he would be glad to "pull the switch" --- and now they are backing off on him a bit after his "baseball bat" comment of last night.
Ron Thomas has been given an unedited platform for his views, but a reporter questioned him this morning as to whether he has a history with the Fullerton mayor and Thomas's answer was vague at best. Nor did I see any of the usual ANSWER et al demonstrators out there this morning before Thomas's one-on-one meeting with the mayor.
Ping.
Isn’t Ron Thomas a former sheriff’s deputy?
After this brutal Fullerton event, and their response to this beating to death of the unarmed guy by multiple officers, I really hope their not attempting to make the dead guys Dad, a former cop himself, the bad guy.
There was no excuse for the actions of these cops.
Not a grain of human decency in the lot of them, Just a pack of rabid dogs beating this man to death.
I was reading the story about the guy who raped a passed out woman in broad daylight, on the same webpage.His excuse was he thought she was dead.They need to keep this guy away from funeral homes.
The press usually gives grieving parents some slack when they say stupid things. Its one of the things they do right. The death needs to be investigated and the officers punished if they violated the law. The press needs to ignore the father or heavily edit his comments. There is no need to build him up as a civil rights hero or to damn him.
Yeah it would be a shame if public officials had to face some real penalties for their actions.
They murdered this guys son.
They city denied trying to buy off the Dad with $900,000, which until the Dad produced the documentation regarding the settlement offer.
This one has the “after” picture.
And there are video tapes that ALLEGEDLY show the officers beating this guy once he was long past the point of resisting.
Tell me — why did this guy end up like this?
http://www.pixiq.com/article/second-video-emerges-from-fullerton-beating (admittedly somewhat anti-cop, especially cops that arrest people doing photography)
Why did the cops confiscate the video tapes?
This one stinks to high heaven.
If a group of people beat your unarmed daughter or son to death, then made attempts to cover up the event would you not wish the worst for those involved?
Talk about a sweet deal. I wonder what his excuse for "medical leave" was? I'm sure he has the sick time saved, if that's what he's using, but, man, a quarter mil a year in salary and benefits AND he gets to hide from the press?
Not too shabby for a chief in a relatively small, low crime town..
I wonder if there are any other government pensions is guy is collecting?
fyi
Now that is sick.
Amen.
Thanks for the ping. I tend to be skeptical of special investigator/counsel types, so would like the heat to remain on.
If you want to go down to the Fullerton City Hall and join the ANSWER Coalition demonstration this coming Saturday, then feel free.
I have said all along that I support the findings of the investigations. Are you aware that there are 3 investigations now: Orange County D.A., FBI and now the independent investigator??
Until they present their findings, I am holding off on the charge of murder. If the D.A. decides to charge and prosecute one or more of the police officers, then so be it. At the very least, we can reasonably anticipate internal discipline.
Btw, the newest investigator is looking into not only the incident of July 5 but into the Fullerton Police Department entire.
I cannot endorse the way the angry mob has behaved, including the types of insults they hurled at the mayor and city council last night. All the mayor said was, we need to attend to other city business than the Kelly Thomas incident and THAT is what prompted Ron Thomas’s “baseball bat” threat.
In addition, you must be aware that the hacker group Anonymous has threatened to hack the Fullerton Police Dept. website. On another thread, Anonymous is being condemned for hacking into BART in northern California. Would you then endorse their action against Fullerton PD, which would likely release the names and addresses of the police officers. The release of this info is being demanded by the protesters, and by the L.A. Times: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/homeless-man-beating.html
Do you support this tactc?
Maybe they can beat the father to death too. That’ll shut him up.
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