Police beat homeless man to death

[Nitro]

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.

 

Eye witnesses at the scene claim the six officers tasered him five times and beat him beyond recognition, which the disturbing photo of him in hospital shows.

 

Mark Turgeon, who was there, said: 'They kept beating him and tasering him. I could hear zapping, and he wasn't even moving.

'He had one arm in front of him like this, he wasn't resisting. And they kept telling him, "He's resisting, quit resisting", and he wasn't resisting.'

Many members of the Fullerton community described Thomas as a passive, peaceful person.

'The only thing we have left of our son is the blood in the gutter, that's all we have left'On the website Fullerton Stories, several people have shared their experiences interacting with Thomas, describing him as 'very quiet and polite', 'gentle and childlike', 'sweet', and 'never a threat'.

 

Thomas has a previous conviction for assault with a deadly weapon 16 years ago, according to Gawker, which has been attributed to the onset of his illness.

 

Since his death, his family and members of the community have held protests outside the police department headquarters, looking for answers.

Two officers were suspended shortly after the attack but police will not confirm if it was related to the 37-year-old's death.

 

Speaking about his son's death, Thomas's dad, Ron Thomas, a former sheriff's deputy, said: 'His death was gang-involved, the way I see it. A gang of rogue officers who brutally beat my son to death.'

He said he now feels ashamed for having ever been a law enforcement officer.

He has been in the area his son was attacked handing out flyers and asking people for help.

He said: 'The only thing we have left of our son is the blood in the gutter, that's all we have left.'

 

Local city council member Bruce Whitaker has called for a 'clear, factual and complete explanation of events which led to the death of Kelly J. Thomas.'

He also wants the D.A. to release a police video that apparently shows the actual beating taking place.

Fullerton police Sgt Andrew Goodrich said that Thomas began to fight officers as they tried to search him.

He said: 'We don't know why he was so combative and resistant to the officers, but it took upwards of five to six officers to subdue him.

'Sometimes when we take people into custody who don't want to go into custody, we have to use force. It is never the preferred way of doing things.'

 

He said police are conducting an internal investigation into the officers' actions and the District Attorney's Office is conducting a criminal investigation.

The DA's office said they cannot comment on details of cases until they are completed.

 

**WARNING: Graphic Image**

 

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/07/27/article-2019225-0D2FB9E800000578-142_468x286.jpg

 

 

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[expletive] the police. I've been arrested 3x so I have pretty extensive experience of how huge douchebags the majority of them are. Just more ammunition...no one deserves to be beaten that thoroughly by the police unless they have murdered someone and have a deadly weapon on them. Even then, that's still very over-the-top.

[ChosenOne]

Holy shit there is no way a man can resiste enough to deserve this type of a beating. Especially without a weapon. I hope this gets alot more national atention so the police are forced to take further action, and provide the public with some asnwers.

[Smitty]

Whoa, warning next time for pictures like that. I put it in spoiler though.

 

 

But as for the story..that really is [expletive]ed up. Shame how some of these guys just abuse their power as officers.

[NomarFachix]

I saw a video of this the other day on WSHH, the man is literally screaming "DAD! DAD! DAD!" while they're beating and tazing him, and everyone watching is just like "wtf, why are they still hitting him, why are they still tazing him" etc etc etc. Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Guy had schizophrenia, I think.

 

Part that hit the worst was that the dad went to see him in the hospital and didn't even recognize him, had to ask his wife if that was really him. Beat him that badly.

[ChosenOne]

Someone please post a video link?

[NomarFachix]

Someone please post a video link?

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh815UY7BeB5TEh4xd

[Real Deal]

Man, that video had my blood boiling. Three, four, five cops...you can put someone on their belly, cuff them, and be done with it. Taser him once if needed, but there's no reason to kick and pound his face in.

 

These pathetic, low-life cops aren't trained to work the streets, and they are ignorant and think they can do what they want. Sad stuff.

[GamerGuy]

This pretty much went by unnoticed until a UK newspaper published the story with a photo of Kelly's face, which was several weeks after it had happened. Those weeks before this story blew up, no action was taken against the officers. No investigation, no suspensions, nothing. The Fullerton police are notorious for being shady, and this is case is no different. The district attorney for this case has sat on it as well, with nothing being done about it as weeks went by. I guess the FBI are involved with it now, so hopefully something will be done.

 

The whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. I haven't watched the footage, but that photo was enough for me. Just awful.

[NJNJ]

This sure didn't happen far from where I go to school. Sadly, this hasn't been making much headlines on the news here either except the local newspaper in OC.

[EastCoastNiner]

It's no surprise this happened in CA or FL, not a surprise at all.

 

Anyways, the dad, a former police officer and police trainer himself will end up getting a lot more than the $900,000 that Fullerton offered him in a settlement. I want to say the officers will be fired and charged, but then again, many police officers get away with shit like this.

 

I've read a lot about this story, but I did not read this article in particular, but as I said, the victims dad refused the offer of $900,000 from the city, and will be suing the shit out of Fullerton.

Edited August 6, 2011 by EastCoastNiner

[Real Deal]

Not to dodge the main theme too much...but why was he homeless, when he was in contact with his dad? No matter what, I would never let my own flesh and blood live on the streets, and from the way he speaks, he cared for him very much (supposedly).

[Jenneral]

Not to dodge the main theme too much...but why was he homeless, when he was in contact with his dad? No matter what, I would never let my own flesh and blood live on the streets, and from the way he speaks, he cared for him very much (supposedly).

I don't quite understand this either. If my son had schizophrenia and was living on the streets I would do everything in my power to make sure he was staying somewhere safe.

[Warren2ThaG]

Now I know why Tupac hated crooked ass cops, prick bitches.

[GamerGuy]

Not to dodge the main theme too much...but why was he homeless, when he was in contact with his dad? No matter what, I would never let my own flesh and blood live on the streets, and from the way he speaks, he cared for him very much (supposedly).

A local radio station interviewed his sister, and she was saying that he didn't want to be cooped up inside, and that he wanted to sleep outside under the stars. The family tried to get him to stay home, but he would always wonder off...he didn't want to be a burden for others. He would come home to shower and eat, and he would go over to his grandparents house to do the same thing every now and then. I'm not quite sure the reasons why, but he couldn't be institutionalized for his condition so that's why he was homeless.