One of the most shocking things to emerge from the Preliminary Trial of Manny Ramos and Jay Cicinelli for the killing of Kelly Thomas are the statements made by Fullerton Fire Department personnel that the cops received attention to their miscellaneous scrapes as Thomas, whose face had just been bashed in, and who was suffocating in his own blood, lay ignored nearby.
For pure callousness, incomprehensible inhumanity, and well, evil, it’s pretty hard to beat this story. The images of minor scratches sustained by the Fullerton cops is comical, especially given the fact that were sustained committing a crime; juxtaposed to the image of Kelly Thomas’s shattered face they present ample evidence about the nature of the beat down delivered to the homeless man.
Hilariously, Manny Ramos was quoted as saying he’d been in “the fight of my life.” Given that he was seventy pounds overweight, notoriously lazy and obviously a coward, this may actually be a true statement. Certainly it will provide a good headline for Lou Ponsi. But Ramos’ injury received a bandaid and off he went. Kelly Thomas is dead. He was dying on the pavement, alone and unattended, as the cops that killed him got first aid.
And that is truly sickening.
After being postponed twice the Preliminary Hearing in the case against Fullerton cops Manny Ramos and jay Cicinelli for the killing of homeless schizophrenic Kelly Thomas last July. Ten months have elapsed since that hot, fateful night.
Ramos is charged with second degree murder; Cicinelli with manslaughter.
The purpose of the hearing is for a judge to view evidence presented by the District Attorney and decide whether the charged should be bound over for trial.
All sorts of questions will be answered in the next day or two: will the DAs original charges fold as some have predicted? Will a cop-cozy judge say Ramos and Cicinelli were just doing their jobs? On the political side, how will more media exposure effect the Recall of the Three Bald Tires, occurring as it will with the delivery of absentee ballots?
For those who can make it, the hearing will take place this morning at 8:30 in Courtroom C1 in the Superior Court building, in downtown Santa Ana.
One more time, to start the week-end off on the right note.
– JS
And sleep tight, Don. Your stipend check is in the mail.
Here’s a telling article from the Daily Tital that addresses the poor, misunderstood FPD. See, the real problem is just that the public needs to be better educated, and of course there was this little problem of transparency that gosh darn it, is just so much better now.
Despite including a good quote from Ron Thomas, the dad of FPD victim Kelly thomas, the author of the piece, Mark Payne steps in some deep FPD bullshit when he adds this gem:
The department has been under attack by various activist groups for almost a year since the beating of 37-year-old Kelly Thomas on July 5, 2011, which led to his death five days later. His death was allegedly caused by Fullerton police officers.
Wrong on all counts. The department is under legitimate protest for its serial malfeasances and crimes. And Kelly’s death was caused by members of the FPD. Nobody “alleges” that. It’s a fact. And the DA has charged two of the cops with murder and manslaughter. That’s just lazy work, there.
But it gets even better. New FPD spokehole Jeff Stuart is permitted a plaintive, last word:
Stuart said the last year has been trying for the Fullerton Police Department, but when you look at their track record versus other agencies, they do a good job.
“We want people to come down. I’m proud of this department … We are a good department,” Stuart said. “If you look at the number of calls we handle every year and the number of complaints we get in relation to those calls, (they) are minute — they’re infinitesimal.”
More pathetic handwringing and denial from the FPD. If the boy reporter had bothered to find out a little bit more about his subject he may well have asked which part of the following list constitutes “infinitesimal” complaints:
Alber Rincon – Serial molester of in-custody women; $350,000 settlement.
Miguel Siliceo – misidentification and incarceration of wrong man who spent five months in jail.
Cary Tong – accusation of battery and civil rights abuse; broken finger and missing cash.
Kenton Hampton – accusation of assault, battery, civil rights abuse, perjury. Wrong man almost convicted.
Frank Nguyen – accusation of perjury (see above).
Ramos, Wolfe, Hampton, Blatney , Cicinelli – murder, manslaughter, civil rights abuse, etc., etc. A dead man haunts the FPD.
FPD Command – allowed the killers to view the video of the killing and rewrite their reports until everybody got his story straight.
Todd Major – abuse of controlled substance, conviction of fraud. Ripping off Explorers? Really, Todd?
Kelly Mejia – conviction of grand theft at a TSA checkpoint. Crooked and stupid is no way to go throughout life, hon.’
Vincent Mater – charged with destruction of evidence in jail custody death. Hey, we banged that corpses head against the bars!
Andrew Goodrich – dissemination of erroneous information never retracted. Too busy to get it right?
Mike Sellers – protracted medical leave punctuated by a disability claim and massive pensioned retirement. Business as usual. La dolce vita!
April Baughman – charged with two-year’s worth of theft from the FPD property room. Okay, who’s the accomplice?
etc. etc.
Well, who knows. Maybe someday young Mr. Payne will have the opportunity to write the right article about the Culture of Corruption in the FPD and quit spinning puff pieces at the behest of kindly, avuncular police spokesmen. We can only hope.
Perusing the latest yellowing Fullerton Observer I noticed how various candidates responded to the question “How Would You have Handled The Kelly Thomas Situation?”
First the Three Bald Tires, poster boys for utter leadership failure, were given the chance to reflect on their actions, or lack of same. They offered up the same old “we were told by our lawyer not to say anything” tripe. On his way out the saloon doors Doc Hee Haw managed to serve up this beaut: “I regret that some have acted to circumvent the constitutional laws of justice,” as if to reassure himself that the whole gol’dern commotion was the fault of some “lynch-type mob” and had nothing to do with his own incompetence and fat mouth.
The candidates were all pretty uniform in their responses with the glaring exception of Doug Chaffee, who spooned out this idiotic pabulum:
“I am a strong advocate of community oriented policing. In a community oriented policing system, police officers partner with neighborhoods to build trust and positive community relationships. The system generates mutual respect between residents and police. Being pro-active, the focus is on preventing crime, as opposed to merely reacting to it, and results in a safer City.”
What?
Not a single word about Kelly Thomas or his family, the brutal way in which he was killed, the conspiracy of silence in the aftermath, the disinformation peddled by Goodrich, the cops who were returned to duty, the disappearing police chief, the sick police chief, the pensioned-off police chief, or the charges of murder and manslaughter brought against the two cops by the DA. No explanation from Doug that Kelly was not committing a crime, and that the only criminals on the scene were members of the Fullerton Police Department.
Some have asked where Chaffee has been for these past nine months. I know. He’s been hiding from his own pale shadow.
It is apparent to me that this man is an empty suit, a coward and a damned fool. On the council he would be hardly better than McKinley himself. The last thing Fullerton needs is another superannuated do-nothing, say-nothing, stand-for-nothing yellow observer in office.
Believe it or not, the other day the Liberal OC blog actually provided useful information that you won’t find anywhere else. Why? Most likely because the Democratic Party of OC is so lame it can’t maintain a decent website.
According to the Liberal OC the OC Democrats have come out in favor of the Fullerton Recall. Good call, Dems. Although they probably think getting rid of three Republicans is some sort of political accomplishment, the Republicans in question are so addicted to wasting money, giving the public employee unions everything they want, and generally demonstrating the drunken sailor behavior we normally associate with the Dems themselves, it wouldn’t seem like much of an accomplishment.
Still, it could be that the County-level Dems actually want to get rid of the creeps who cultivated a Climate of Corruption in the FPD that has seen a conga line of felonious behavior on the part of the cops, culminating in the beating death of a helpless homeless man last July. And that’s a good thing, especially since the Old Guard Democrats in Fullerton have been tomb-like in their silence in the wake of the Kelly Thomas murder and the series of civil rights abuses perpetrated by the cops that have come to light.
The Dems did endorse replacement candidates, too: somebody called Glenn Georgieff, a Paula Williams (neither of whom I have ever heard of before) and of course Doug Chaffee – the man who has been somewhat humorously referred to as the Fence Sitting, Cardboard Candidate.
Did former Fullerton Police Chief Pat McKinley bring LAPD Chief Daryl Gates’ unique style of policing to Fullerton? This lady (Jean Thaxton), who worked for the LAPD under Gates and alongside his protege, Pat McKinley sure seems to think so. And we know that McKinley admires Gates as his friend and mentor.
Her son was shot in the back by a cop in Downey and she appeared at a Fullerton City Council meeting to support the family of Kelly Thomas – who was beaten to death by six cops of the FPD.
I liked the end bit where this woman admonishes the council to actually provide training for their cops rather than just turning lem loose with badges and guns. I’m sure they get some training; and I’m sure that some of them actually remember some of it. But police departments can’t teach ethics and humanity to a 20 year-old, even if they felt inclined to do so.
Ramos, Cicinelli, Wolfe, Hampton, Mejia, Major, Mater, Tong, Cross, Rincon, etc., etc., ad nauseam. McKinley: “I hired them all.”
Remember that strange episode up at Beechwood School a couple of months ago when parents were called in for a really scary meeting and not really told anything? Some teacher did something. Somewhere. Somehow. FSD Superintendent Mitch Hovey was just double-talking hard.
Now the OC Register is reporting that the still unnamed teacher’s offense – having “inappropriate” materials on his computer at school – does not rise to the level of a crime. At least that’s what Acting Chief Dan Hughes reported after an FPD investigation was submitted to our hard-working DA (okay, no snickering). Says Hughes:
“The investigation discovered potentially inappropriate photographs and videos on a school computer assigned to the teacher. But I am pleased to report that in this case, there is no evidence to suggest any Beechwood students were victims of a crime.”
Well, that’s good news, although what the guy had on his computer that caused all the hubbub remains shrouded in secrecy.
But according to the article Mr. Teacher isn’t out of the Beechwoods yet, and remains on “administrative” (presumably paid) leave while the Fullerton School District pursues its own investigation.
Jeez, Fullerton must be the public employee investigation capital of the Western World.
When FPD Acting Chief Dan Hughes was handed the keys to the front door, wishful thinkers proclaimed the dawn of a new day for a department reeling from humiliating self-inflicted wounds.
His supporters claimed that Dan, for some mysterious reason, was going to bring decency and reform to a department whose members had, within the short space of seven months been exposed as thugs, perjurers, thieves, con men, sex perverts, destroyers of evidence, thieves (again and again), etc., etc. Despite a 30-year FPD career and various job titles that closely tied him to this band of miscreants, Dan is Different, his defenders said. Somehow. A veritable Galahad, in fact.
Even when Dan denied a Culture of Corruption in the FPD and said such an idea was disseminated by liars or ignoramuses, his supporters clung to the idea that Dan is Different.
But Dan’s latest decision may provide cause for pause. According to the folks at FullertonStories Hughes has replaced the otiose Andrew Goodrich with yet another union member, Sergeant Jeff Stuart, to be an official department spokeshole and Face of Fullerton. Really? Has Hughes learned nothing from the misinformation peddler, Goodrich. Maybe not. Or maybe he likes the idea of the FPOA getting the first, and often the last shot at misleading the public.
Haven’t we had enough of public information officers whose loyalty to their own tribe is far greater than that to their employers? To me this just looks like more of the same ‘ol same ‘ol: another opportunity to do the right thing has been passed over by Acting Chief Hughes, who is acting more and more like Chief Sellers all the time.