The Crime Beat Archives - Page 37 of 46 - Friends For Fullerton's Future

September 16, 2011September 19, 2011Law N Disorder

What Are We Expecting?

Update 2: An FPD officer told a Friend last night that the police were in fact gearing up for potential protests in response to the DA’s announcement, which is expected in this coming week.

-Travis

Update: Travis, I can’t believe the FPD would be stoopid enough to start a riot at a benefit for the homeless (still, I’m wondering if their dumbness even has a bottom level). I truly believe the protesters in from of PD HQ are getting into their little heads. Everyone make as much noise as you want but PLEASE stay on the sidewalk!

– Mr. Peabody

Today a helpful Friend snapped these photos of Fullerton police officers dusting up on their riot control skills and baton swinging techniques inside the walls of the FPD compound.

The timing is curious. There is a rock concert for Kelly Thomas on Saturday. And the DA has hinted that he may make a big announcement about the cops who killed Kelly Thomas as early as Monday.

Nearby residents say that riot training is not a common occurrence in the FPD parking lot.

I wonder what’s going on?

September 14, 2011September 14, 2011Behind Closed Doors

The Wrongful Incarceration of Emmanuel Martinez

by Joe Sipowicz166 Comments

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 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 12, 2011The Crime Beat

Honkin’ It

by admin230 Comments

September 11, 2011September 11, 2011Dick Jones

Red County Blog Shoots. Scores.

by admin83 Comments

OCDA clearchannel kfi_0 — Contemplating a bleak future?

Thursday afternoon I took a break from work and headed to the Civic Center in Santa Ana, to check out the public protest outside the Orange County District Attorney’s office. About 40-50 people had gathered on the sweltering hot sidewalks on both sides of Civic Center Drive, frankly a larger crowd than I expected given that A) it was hotter than Hell B) it was the middle of a work day and C) did I mention it was hotter than Hell?

The crowd was well-behaved, they took care to gather all trash as they finished water bottles or fast-food lunches, and they were careful not to block the sidewalk or bother pedestrians or bicyclists. Sorry Doc Jones, no lynch mob here. Click here to read the rest of Cynthia Wards awesome article titled: Justice For Kelly: D.A. Do Your Job.

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.

(more…)

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.