Law N Disorder Archives - Page 36 of 41 - Friends For Fullerton's Future

September 14, 2011September 14, 2011Behind Closed Doors

The Wrongful Incarceration of Emmanuel Martinez

An alert Friend reminded us today of a story that came to light last fall and that has eerie overtones of the subsequent Veth Mam case we have previously reported. The story is told in the OC Register, here.

The facts are simple. Even though an eye-witness ID’d another guy in a line-up, the Fullerton police arrested Emmanuel Martinez who unluckily just happened to be in the vicinity. Of course Fullerton “Officer” Miguel Siliceo told a hearing judge that he had indeed got the right guy and Martinez was locked up in the County jail for five long months awaiting the inevitable railroad job.

Martinez’s luck changed for the better when he got a public defender, Denise Crawford, who bulldogged the case. When audio evidence surfaced that proved Siliceo was telling tall tales, the DA, mirabile dictu, dropped the bogus charges against Martinez.

So Emmanuel can thank his lucky stars that he didn’t actually go on trial like Veth Mam, and then end up in state prison. And “Officer” Siliceo is lucky, too. Lucky he never had to perjure himself in front of a jury, and lucky he works for a police department where incompetence, and worse – felonious behavior are just par for the course.

Goodrich-262x300 — How about the truth, if it's not too much trouble?

Of course the story wouldn’t be complete without the bland statement by FPD spokesassclown Andrew Goodrich that the cops work “diligently” to arrest the right people and generously let ’em go if exculpatory evidence surfaces. Gee, thanks, Andy. Of course no mention is made by Goodrich of FPD hiding exculpatory evidence in the first place; nor is perjury; and of course there is no apology to the victim of FPD malfeasance. Wouldn’t want to undermine public confidence in our Heroes, now would we?

I wonder how much that one cost us.

September 14, 2011September 14, 2011About Us

We Get Mail: Oooooh, A Threat!

by Grover Cleveland193 Comments

Uh, oh! Some semi-literate chucklehead is not happy with FFFF! We received an e-mail from an under-educated police apologist who wishes that we would turn our attention from the Fullerton Police Department record of bogus traffic tickets, theft, drug-abuse, credit card fraud, kidnapping, kidnapping and sexual battery, kidnapping, abetting suicide in the city jail, and, of course, the Kelly Thomas homicide; and instead focus on “what the fullerton police does (sic) for you to keep you and your fellow fullerton citizens safe.”

Safe, huh? Safe from what? The greatest threat to our “fellow Fullerton citizens” these days seems to come from the FPD itself.

Anyway, enjoy the amusing version of “The Truth” as penned by some poor, high school drop-out:

Stupid — Trying harder to think just isn't going to help!

Privacy: You may publish this, but protect my identity

Subject: The Truth.

Dear Whatever bastard is running this blog,
Whoever you are you have no idea what the fullerton police does for you to keep you and your fellow fullerton citizens safe. You and your and other sons of bitches have warped the Kelly Thomas “murder” into a wormhole of un-needed conflicts and issues. And then when i thought that you guys could not steep lower than that you verbally attack and threaten the officers and thier families, what nerve do you have. How would you like it if I threatened the safety and well-being of you and/or your family.

Just Remeber…….How Would You Like It?

Oh, yes we will “Remeber” the next time we and our and other sons of bitches “steep” even lower.

Sincerely,

One of the Bastards Running This Blog

September 13, 2011March 14, 2012Law N Disorder

How to Let the DA Whitewash a Cop’s Sexual Assault and Get Away With It

by Mr. Peabody207 Comments

Earlier we discovered a federal civil trial against the Fullerton PD and one of its cops named Albert Rincon, alleging that he serially sexually assaulted women in the backseat of his squad car. Since then, several interesting pieces of evidence have come forth.

That evidence shows how the FPD’s internal affairs department worked in tandem with a DA’s office that won’t prosecute cops, in order to derail an internal investigation against one of their own.

Follow along as we recite the successful formula:

1. Receive graphically detailed allegations that one of your officers had sexually assaulted a female in the back of his squad car.

Victim 1 Deposition – Victim 2 Deposition

2. Ask the DA to “investigate” to see if a crime had taken place.

McKinley Letter to DA

3. The DA investigator finds five more women who say they were sexually groped, penetrated or propositioned in the course of an arrest by Rincon.

4. Listen to the recordings and discover that the cop’s audio recorder was turned off just before every single alleged assault took place.

5. Despite an astounding number of victims and witnesses, Tony Rackauckas’ office declines to prosecute the cop for sexual assault.

6. Pretend you don’t know why the DA didn’t file charges. In fact, don’t even ask.

Captain Bastreri’s Deposition

7. Let the Internal Affairs department use the DA’s decline to prosecute as a pretext to conclude it’s own investigation.

8. Set the accused sexual predator free! With a badge and a gun, of course. But for some reason he now has to wear a lapel camera on his shirt at all times.

Of course Pat McKinley’s long reign of error has now caught up with him, and the taxpayers of Fullerton, too. And the DA? Well, nothing there we didn’t already know.

September 13, 2011September 14, 2011Behind Closed Doors

Cop Union President Barry Coffman Identified

by Jan Florys Dog166 Comments

UPDATE: Please note Coffman’s admission: “This year, my first citation”. So he obviously took on this assignment to harass citizens out of the sheer joy of it. And there you have it. Your tax dollars at work.

The other day we shared a video here of the Fullerton Police Department’s PR disastrous anti-honking ticket strategy. Of course it was justifiably greeted with a hail of scorn and outrage and was ridiculed across Southern California as blatant harassment of peaceful protesters. Egad, another FPD humiliation. Another day another embarrassment!

Oh, well, I guess when you don’t have a sense of shame it’s impossible to be shamed.

What went unmentioned in the video was the identity of the well-fed cop who handed out the ticket to the protester who had the temerity to honk for justice for Kelly Thomas. Well, I know who this churlish individual is.

No surprise! That’s Fullerton Police Officer Association President, Barry Coffman – the head union goon who got The Three Blind Mice McKinley, Bankhead, and Jones elected in the first place, and then watched in satisfaction as these three clowns handed over Fullerton to his union comrades.

Barry says he is smirking because he gets so much job satisfaction. But Barry won’t be smirking for long. Whatever the DA does there will be Federal and civil lawsuits coming FPD’s way, and likely punitive damages against the McKinley Six. And that’s not going to be hushed up as usual. And he’s got an anti-recall campaign to finance with three elderly orangutans who have finally been exposed as utterly incompetent.

three blind ortangtans — Not much to work with...

Smirk on that, Barry.

September 12, 2011Law N Disorder

Reading the Tea Leaves: Parsing the Statements out of the DA’s Office

by admin284 Comments

Attorney Mark Cabaniss has provided us with more expert analysis on the potential prosecution of the Fullerton police officers responsible for Kelly Thomas’ death:

It is getting close to decision time for the DA in the Kelly Thomas case. While the investigation is still not completed and must be before any charges are brought, if any are brought, some of us are nervous, and increasingly disturbed at the way things are going, or not going, and at the unseemly deference given to the six police.

Unfortunately, in public pronouncements about the case, the Orange County DA’s office has sometimes given the impression that they are on the side of the police, even though the police are the criminal suspects. This is unusual. Usually the DA is on the side of the people, and against the alleged criminals. Usual prosecutorial practice is to charge as many people as possible, with the most serious charges possible, in order to create the most leverage for the DA to get people to plead guilty and settle the case without a trial. For example, in a case with multiple defendants, the DA might make a deal for one or more defendants to agree to testify against the other defendant(s) in exchange for reduced charges, or even outright immunity. And in every case the DA charges the most serious charges warranted by the facts, so that he can get the defendant to plead guilty to a less serious charge, in exchange for getting rid of the more serious charge. But in this case, the Kelly Thomas case, the DA has set a pattern of preemptive surrender, conceding points to the (possible) criminal defense even before any charges are filed, indeed, even before the investigation is complete.

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September 11, 2011September 11, 2011Law N Disorder

How Many Cops Does It Take to Bust a Honker?

by Travis281 Comments

Thanks to Mark for the footage.

September 10, 2011September 11, 2011Behind Closed Doors

More Squeals From Goodrich

by Joe Sipowicz264 Comments

UPDATE: Here is Goodrich as reported by Brian Martinez at the Register:

Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said drivers have been holding down their horns continuously for a quarter-mile up and down Commonwealth and Highland. He said the department received numerous complaints from nearby residents, businesses and park-users about the excessive honking and other instances of disturbing the peace such as yelling at and approaching drivers who don’t honk their horns.

Another outright Goodrich lie to the stupid. A quarter mile? Lie. Highland has been blocked off. A quarter mile south would take you under the tracks and past Truslow. A quarter mile east or west on Commonwealth would take you Richman or Harbor, respectively. Of course the trough feeding media are too dumb to even question any of Goodrich’s claims and absurd statements. So we’ll do it for them.

According to Marisa Gerber at the OC Weekly Fullerton cops started handing out tickets to motorists who showed their support for today’s protest. Fortunately some concentrated verbal rebuke from the protesters directly in front of the FPD building resulted in the cops beating a hasty retreat.

Now, for fun, let’s listen in on Ms. Gerber’s conversation with the 2011 Dr. Josef Goebbels Award finalist, Andrew Goodrich, who is, miraculously, still employed by the FPD as a spokesman, and whose lies and quarter-truths are piling up so fast we need wings to stay above his torrent of bullshit:

“It’s not just the horn honking, but leaning on the horn,” says Sgt. Andrew Goodrich, spokesman for the Fullerton Police Department, about the people who were cited for “illegal use of horn.” The department issued three citations, one of which the captain voided, Goodrich says.

Apparently Goodrich believes illegal use of horn merits paying a citation. Of course beating a man to death merits a paid vacation. Here’s more:

Goodrich says the police department has received “numerous complaints from residents and businesses” about the protesters in the past few weeks. The department received a complaint from one motorist who said their kids were frightened by a protester running in the streets.

Numerous? Really Andy? As numerous as the broken bones you claimed were suffered by the FPD killer cops in the “fight” you said they had with Kelly Thomas? I wonder if Kelly was as fearful of Goodrich’s fellow union members as those mythical “kids” were afraid of protesters running into the street. But Goodrich isn’t finished:

“The question was being asked of us why were allowing protesters to flagrantly violate the law,” Goodrich says, adding that the department has worked to give protesters some “latitude”. The police department contacted protest organizers last night, and again this morning, to ask for cooperation, he says.

“Flagrantly violate the law?” Is that phrase (coming from an FPD mouthpiece) supposed to be some kind of sick joke? Come on, Goodrich, who asked that question? Anybody? And were they at all concerned about FPD flagrantly violating the law by smashing a homeless man’s face in, killing him in the process? What’s that, Andy? Not flagrant enough?

And, by-the-way, thanks awfully for “working” to give us “latitude” to exercise our Constitutional rights, Sergeant Slime Trail.

Coming from the department spokesassclown who has deceitfully spun portly pirouettes around all the reports of serial law violations perpetrated by his fellow union brothers and sisters in the past few months, it’s now impossible for any objective person to believe a damn thing that emanates from this baboon’s yapper.

Now, here’s a question being asked of us at FFFF: can the FPD and the City be so detached from reality that they believe the jackass Goodrich is in any way doing them any good? I guess that question really answers itself.

Why is this sack of bovine excrement still employed?

September 9, 2011September 9, 2011Big Brother

OCTA Uncut

by Travis198 Comments

A month ago we posted the OCTA surveillance video that captured the immediate reaction of witnesses after the Kelly Thomas beating.

Here is the full video from OCTA Bus 5599’s DVR on July 5. Perhaps our more observant readers can glean new information from the 18 minute recording. As always, leave your observations in the comments section below.

Update: As suggested by EyeNeverSayNo, I ran the audio through a noise reducer to help clarify some of the conversation. That version of the video his here.

The video shows all seven cameras at once and is best viewed full screen at 720p.

September 8, 2011September 8, 2011Law N Disorder

The Fullerton 6: A Death Penalty Case

by admin187 Comments

Here is a guest blog from Mark Cabaniss, an attorney who has worked as both a prosecutor and as a public defender. Mark has written several interesting pieces on the Kelly Thomas case over at GreaterLongBeach.com.

Reportedly, the Orange County DA is waiting for the coroner’s report before deciding whether to file charges against the six Fullerton police in the beating death of Kelly Thomas. As the medical evidence comes in, it looks increasingly likely that charges will be filed. But will the charges, if they are brought, be minimal, or will they be serious? Will they be the most serious charges warranted by the evidence? We don’t know. What we do know is that Kelly Thomas died after six Fullerton police severely beat him. The DA is still waiting for the official cause of death to be determined, but for the sake of this article, I am going to assume that the death came about as a result of the beating. Now let us make two further assumptions: First, that the police were committing a crime during the beating leading to the death, and second, that the death was unintentional, i.e., an unplanned consequence of the beating. If that is what happened, that the police illegally beat Kelly Thomas and he subsequently died as a result of that beating, then there are two ways to charge the case under California law, depending on whether the police were committing a misdemeanor, such as simple battery, or a felony, such as kidnapping or torture. If the underlying crime was a misdemeanor, then the case would properly be charged as involuntary manslaughter. But if the underlying crime was a felony, then the case would properly be charged as felony murder.

The difference is simple. Suppose you get in a bar fight and get your arms around a guy, trying to throw him down. He stumbles out of your grasp, but, unfortunately for you, (and him,) he trips and falls, smacking his head on something hard, killing him. This would be a textbook case of involuntary manslaughter, because the death was an unintended consequence of your misdemeanor, i.e., simple battery. Now consider the same hypothetical, only this time you grab the guy not in a bar fight, but in a kidnapping. Again, he trips, falls, and dies. Now this is a case of felony murder, since the death resulted from your felony, i.e., kidnapping.

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September 7, 2011September 7, 2011Law N Disorder

UCI Docs Say Kelly Died From Blunt Force Trauma, Assault

by Travis350 Comments

The attorney for the Thomas family released some medical reports from UCI today. They say that Kelly Thomas was brain dead from head trauma as the result of an assault and there were no drugs or alcohol found in his system

View the records

Chris went up to Garo Mardirossian’s press conference today to get the details. Check out the Taser demonstration at the end of the video.