Friends For Fullerton's Future
FFFF supports causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County
We have learned from Ron Thomas, father of Kelly Thomas, that the medical records of his son who was beaten to death by six Fullerton cops, will be released tomorrow. Thomas’ lawyer, Garo Mardirossian, will present the medical facts of the case plus additional forensic analysis to the media at his offices in Los Angeles at 11:00 AM.
FFFF will be there to record the entire event.
When that cop intimidated Bunny and took her roll of film shortly after the brutal beating of Kelly Thomas, he didn’t realize that Bunny had already used up another roll of film taking pictures of the crime scene. She thought that roll was useless. She was mistaken.
That roll of film escaped the clutches of the Fullerton police and these photos were developed over the weekend:
The pictures are chilling, knowing what we know now about how Kelly died. Yes, we can see light reflected in the pool of blood near the cops feet – right next to the front right wheel of the patrol car. The light pole to the right of the picture is where Kelly’s Memorial has been set up.
The one thing that strikes me most is the way the FPD are not treating this like a crime scene.
Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Here is our interview with a woman named Bunny, who was taking photographs of the scene where Kelly Thomas was killed on the night of July 5th.
Bunny says a Fullerton police officer intimidated her into handing over film from her 35mm camera, thereby exposing and destroying the film in the process. While she admits to turning over the film voluntarily, I note that the policeman in question took possession it – for reasons that remain unexplained, and at which point the cop’s belligerent attitude ceased.
She also notes that the District Attorney is aware of this incident and also of the destruction of the film.
On July 5th Kelly Thomas was approached by police supposedly because the cops had received a report of a man trying to burglarize cars in the parking lot.
Here’s the problem: A Friend has confirmed through a records request that there were only two calls to the police for auto burglary in the Fullerton Transportation Center on July 5th, and neither one had anything to do with Kelly Thomas or anyone else in the area at the time.
In fact, one call was made early in the morning and the other came in at 11:30 pm, well after Kelly Thomas had already been beaten to death. Both calls were for stolen catalytic converters, an unlikely target for a homeless man with no tools.
So what really led officers to investigate a vehicle burglary at 8:30 pm on July 5th? Why were no calls logged or reports taken before Kelly was arrested? Who reported a crime, and how did they report it without going through the dispatch system?
It’s really starting to look like the whole burglary thing was an invention; an excuse to harass a homeless guy who wasn’t doing anything wrong.
Watch this discussion from a few years back about adding surveillance cameras in the Fullerton Transportation Center. Of course the FPD captain is overjoyed at having another opportunity to make things safer. Be sure to view all the way to the end where you can enjoy Doc Dick holding forth on the issue of public safety.
The quality of the bus depot surveillance footage on the night of Kelly Thomas’ beating is still a mystery, but here’s a demonstration of the low-light and zoom capabilities of that same camera taken on August 16th (including with some random zoom footage from an identical model camera obtained elsewhere.)
This camera is about 150 ft. away from the spot where the beating took place. In this example, the camera was aligned to capture the comings and goings of Slidebar patrons on a Tuesday night.
Here is an interview with a young man who was at the Transportation Center the night of July 5th, 2011. He was waiting for a bus.
His story has the ring of truth to it, and is interesting because it suggests several interesting facts. First, according to this account an “Hispanic” officer had Kelly seated on a curb and had his baton in his hands during some kind of discussion that lasted several minutes, at least; at which point Kelly got up and ran. He was quickly caught from behind, punched repeatedly and spent the rest of his “altercation” with FPD face down. There was no death-struggle between a superhuman drug-crazed freak and six officers grimly fighting for their lives.
There’s is no doubt from this account that the first two cops had difficulty subduing Thomas – most likely because they couldn’t get both hands cuffed behind his back. As the witness suggests, this could have been because the first officer was on top of Kelly from behind and Kelly’s arm was pinned beneath him. After that it was just a gang mugging.
Dedicated commenter “corrupt” gave me great idea a while ago about applying a sort of Hippocratic Oath to our police here in Fullerton. They already take an oath of some kind which, based on recent events, doesn’t seem to have done much good. Nevertheless, I persevere in my attempt to get our boys in blue to toe the line – before we replace them with boys in green.
Here’s my oath:
1. First, I will do no harm to those I am supposed to protect and serve. This includes perpetrating no credit card fraud, assault or sexual battery, kidnapping, theft, homicide, or encouraging suicide while in custody.
2. I will obey the same laws that apply to people who pay for my salary and pension.
3. I will not make public statements that are intentionally misleading, or that are outright fabrications.
4. I will not accept free food or drink at downtown bars.
5. I will not fabricate evidence, falsify reports or commit perjury in order to prosecute the innocent; I will not cause others to do same.
6. I will not consider being recorded by citizens in the exercise of my job duties a reason to illegally confiscate recording devices; nor will I cause said citizens to be assaulted, arrested, or prosecuted (see 4, above) for exercising their rights as free men and women.
7. I will not knowingly permit any of my fellow officers to violate items 1-6; I will immediately report any such violations to my superiors. Superiors will do likewise – up to the civilian immediately in charge of the Police Department.
If you have anything you’d like to add please feel free to elaborate, as always, in the comments thread.
In the wake of a rolling tsunami of scandals, cover-ups, and abuse of its own citizens I have been hearing increased calls to disband the department altogether and bring in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Apparently the issue is not just FPD-fatigue and the brutal costs their misbehavin’ is going to cost the taxpayers; nor even police misconduct in general – since the OCSD has had its own share of bad behavior in recent years.
No, the prime motivation will be the comparatively low cost per capita that the OCSD charges its contract city partners for varying levels of service. Some have said that the City could easily save the General Fund $10-15 million a year, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.
Former Fullerton councilmember and current County Supervisor Shawn Nelson would be in a perfect position to help broker this deal
So could we be seeing the streets of Fullerton patrolled by guys in green? Perhaps. Why not? The current police force has disgraced itself so badly in the past few moths that from a public relations standpoint there would never be a better time.