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Wednesday, August 3, 2011
World Wide Public Outcry Over Fullerton CA Police Beating of Homeless Man
This man says he witnessed the beating death of Kelly Thomas by Fullerton police on July 5, 2011. Here are the notable claims:
Man Beat to Death by Fullerton Police Wasn’t Resisting
Fullerton – The Fullerton Police Department was being investigated today by both local and federal officials because of the death of a 37-year-old schizophrenic man who was Tasered and badly beaten in a scuffle with six officers.
The death of Kelly Thomas, the son of a former OrangeCounty sheriff‘s deputy, has also given rise to a wave of public displeasure, as evidenced by the tenor of public comment at a Fullerton City Council meeting Tuesday night. More than a dozen of the estimated 200 people there called for police Chief Michael Sellers to resign.
“Man up — step down,” one woman said, and a man who said he witnessed the July 5 confrontation called it “a terrible murder.”
Among those attending the meeting was Ron Thomas, the dead man’s father, who praised council members Sharon Quirk-Silva and Bruce Whitaker for publicly demanding that information surrounding the incident, including surveillance video of the incident, be made public.
Fullerton Mayor F. Richard Jones and other officials, including Councilman Pat McKinley, the city’s former police chief, urged the public to avoid a rush to judgment, suggesting the officers did nothing wrong in the way they confronted the combative suspect.
But Ron Thomas told the Los Angeles Times that an attorney representing the city had offered him a settlement of $900,000, although the family has not filed a suit. There was no immediate confirmation
The six officers involved in the scuffle are on paid leave. They will retain that status for the duration of an Orange CountyDistrict Attorney‘s investigation, said Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich. In a separate investigation, the FBI is looking into whether the officers violated Thomas’ civil rights.
Thomas struggled with officers as they tried to arrest him at the Fullerton Transportation Center at 123 S. Pomona Ave. on suspicion of possessing stolen goods after receiving a report of a man trying to break into vehicles at the Metrolink station parking lot.
A photo taken of him at the hospital shows his face grotesquely swollen. His family took him off life-support July 10.
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