Here’s something creative: a groove for Kelly Thomas.
BNF – 6 Lil Piggies (Justice for Kelly Thomas) feat. Jay Bird by BNF
There will be a memorial rally and protest outside of the police station from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM today (Saturday). Please come by and make your voice heard. We must let the FPD know that we will not let up until those responsible are brought to justice.
More details on Facebook.
Also there will be a candle light vigil for Kelly tonight from 8-10 pm in front of Fullerton City Hall …no signs, just candles and songs
Yesterday the John and Ken Show spent 4 hours expressing outrage over the Fullerton police beating of Kelly Thomas, the lack of media coverage and the cowardly concealment of evidence by Fullerton officials.
Towards the end of the show a man called in purporting to be friends with a Fullerton police officer. He passed along some new, graphic information on what was supposedly seen on the city’s surveillance camera, which the police are still not releasing to the public. Here it is:
Notable claims:
- One officer supposedly beat Kelly Thomas with the butt of his Taser until blood started coming up all over the officer’s arms and hands.
- Another officer supposedly drop knees Kelly Thomas’ nose and throat with the full force of his body weight multiple times, crushing the victim’s throat.
- This happened while Kelly Thomas was not moving or resisting.
Today Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson sent over this formal request to have the FBI take over the investigation of the police beating death of Kelly Thomas.
As a result, Supervisor Nelson told us that the FBI confirmed that it has launched a formal investigation into the incident.
We may have figured out why it took the District Attorney investigators three weeks to start talking to witnesses on the Kelly Thomas police beating case…
According to this unsigned note that just came in to our website, Chief Sellers is a close personal friend of DA investigator Stan Berry, who was immediately assigned to the high-profile Fullerton case:
I suggest you check into the connection between Investigator Berry and FPD Chief Sellers. Sellers hired Berry when he was the Chief at Seal Beach PD. Sellers and his wife Rita Fraser-Sellers, are close personal friends with Berry and his wife, Kristen Berry, the Dispatch Supervisor in Seal Beach. They socialize together, vacation together and entertain each other in their respective homes.
Of all the DA investigators, why choose Berry, other than he will help cover for his friend.
Presumably that case assignment was a decision made by the DA Tony Rackauckas. I have confirmed that Berry worked as an investigator under Chief Sellers for the Seal Beach Police Department.
As for as the familial socializing, entertaining and vacationing together…maybe the Chief can clear that one up for us.
If our informant is correct, this would be a huge conflict of interest in a very high-profile investigation.
Read more about the Kelly Thomas beating
Here is the video that the Thomas family released to the media yesterday. We’ve added some captions to clarify the audio, which may be difficult to hear without headphones.
It is not immediately apparent what the police are doing in the video, but it is clear that Thomas was already on the ground and that the officers were top of him when the video starts.
The audio consists of commentary from distraught onlookers while Kelly Thomas is screaming in pain and then crying out “Dad! Dad! Dad!” before the video ends.
Email the City Council and demand justice NOW! Council@ci.fullerton.ca.us
Read more about the Kelly Thomas beating
This is what happens when a city loses control of its police force.
Kelly Thomas did not deserve to die this way. Nobody does.
Clearly there is a systemic problem within the FPD culture which permits, condones or even encourages police officer violence against residents of Fullerton.
This must end now.
Email the City Council and demand justice NOW! Council@ci.fullerton.ca.us
Now we’re getting some traction. The story of a homeless man beaten to death by the Fullerton police seems to be attracting some significant attention outside of our own little town.
The infamous Gawker (7 million monthly readers)
Police Beat ‘Gentle’ Homeless, Mentally Ill Man to Death
Across the pond in the Daily Mail (72 million monthly readers)
Caught on tape: Police beat and taser ‘gentle’ mentally-ill homeless man to death
Philip DeFranco Show (one million daily viewers)
July 27, 2011 Show
Huffington Post
Police Beat Homeless Fullerton Man Kelly Thomas To Death
I’ll keep this post up to date as coverage expands.
This image was included in a story at Fullerton Stories here and purports to be a 2009 police booking photo of recent Fullerton homicide victim Kelly Thomas that was, presumably, provided by the ever helpful FPD spokehole Andrew Goodrich. Well, this is certainly a scary looking dude: pretty buff and mangy, and sufficiently angry-looking to scare the good folks of Fullerton right back into complacency about the homicide of a mentally-ill homeless man.
The only trouble is that it isn’t Kelly Thomas at all. His parents say this isn’t their son. But we don’t need their expert opinion. Apart from a large nose that is completely different from every other picture of Thomas, Kelly’s hair was flaming red, a simple fact illustrated in every other picture of him in the Fullerton Stories piece.
So what gives? Is this just a cheapjack trick by Goodrich & Co. to degrade the victim by presenting Kelly Thomas as a surly, muscular threat to Fullerton’s delicate residents? If so, the Fullerton Police Department has actually hit a new low, and given recent events that’s pretty goddam hard for them to do. But it’s just when you think you’ve hit the FPD basement you find out there are even lower levels.
I will await a comical explanation from the Good Sergeant Goodrich, but of course I won’t be holding my breath.