Awhile back Grover Cleveland posted on how the Fullerton City Council’s creation of a mess downtown led to the rise of an FPD goon squad to quell the crime wave. The only problem was that the FPD goon squad added to the crime wave. Here’s a reminder. An innocent bystander is beat up and arrested. Later he is tried for assaulting a cop to which Fullerton cops Kenton Hampton and Framk Nguyen swear in a court of law. Only problem is it didn’t happen, but that didn’t stop the FPD and the DA from trying to put an innocent man in prison.
Watch this FFFF interview of Mark Turgeon, who says he witnessed the beating to death of Kelly Thomas by Fullerton police on July 5, 2011.
Here are the notable claims:
- The police officers were shouting “stop resisting” while the homeless man lay still and cried out for his dad.
- There was video taken by a local real estate agent, but the police wanted to look at it and now nobody knows where it went.
- The beating was very bloody, went on for 10 or 15 minutes and stopped when man went silent.
- The man was Tasered several times during the beating
- Approximately 50 people witnessed the beating, but they were reluctant to give police a statement on what they saw.
A few months back we told you about a new group called Open Coyote Hills here. Their friendly looking green and white signs have appeared all over Fullerton to show support for Chevron’s West Coyote Hills plan. The development was voted down by the city council last year, but thanks to the ongoing threat of a lawsuit by Chevron, will be brought back before the council tonight, July 12. No doubt some of Open Coyote Hills’ illustrious members will be on hand to state their support for the 760 home development.
An April 1 email from Scott Starkey of West Coyote Hills forwards a message introducing Open Coyote Hills. Additionally, the West Coyote Hills website features a direct link to Open Coyote Hills, where they are described as “an independent group of Fullerton residents who joined together to support West Coyote Hills.”
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Friends – I wanted to call your attention to the email below from Open Coyote Hills, a recently formed group that wants West Coyote Hills to be approved so the land can be enjoyed. Their website is extensive and worth checking out. Thank you for your interest in West Coyote Hills. We will keep you posted on our efforts to bring back a low-density plan for West Coyote Hills that preserves 55 percent of the property as open space and generates about $38 million to local agencies to improve schools and services. Regards,
—–Original Message—– Scott – Our new website www.OpenCoyoteHills.com is now live and we’re reaching out to Fullerton residents to help spread the word. The site contains a brief history section and an extensive FAQ — both of which should be of interest to all residents. It also offers those Can you please pass this information along to those on your West Coyote Hills interest list? Thank you, The Open Coyote Hills Steering Committee |
However, if you hover over any of the links to Open Coyote Hills you’ll see a short hidden text referencing emcdesignca, a design firm found online here:
Funny thing is, one of EMC Design’s clients is none other than West Coyote Hills. Click on the “Client Work” link, then on “West Coyote Hills” to see images of the website and familiar color brochure promoting the development.
Did the same design group that produced the website for West Coyote Hills, the development plan, also create the website for Open Coyote Hills, an ostensibly independent group of familiar Fullertonions supporting that plan?
Wow, this seems like a long time ago. Still nothing posted on line.
I just met with Ron Thomas, father of deceased Kelly Thomas, at the Fullerton Transportation Center. He and his daughter were posting fliers around the Fullerton Sante Fe train depot & OCTA bus terminal in the hopes of talking to witnesses that were present on the night his son was brutally beaten to death.
For all those who care, there is a candlelight vigil tonight at the Fullerton Transportation Center at 7:00 pm.
Ron Thomas did say that the entire deadly beating of his son by six cops was caught on the city’s camera (the same camera that we reported on here two days ago.) Ron also said that the police will not let him look at the video to see what happened to his son.
According to ABC News, Kelly Thomas, who was beaten into a comatose state by Fullerton police last week has been taken off life support, and is dead.
Police claim that they responded to a call that someone was breaking into cars at the Transportation Center. According to police a spokesman “probably” six police officers eventually became involved in what they allege was a combative Thomas. His father, a former County Sheriff’s Deputy, says his son’s head was beaten into an unrecognizable state; other witnesses has said the man was Tasered multiple times.
Will anybody in a position of authority in Fullerton do the right thing and demand a full and independent outside inquiry into this homicide? Don’t hold your breath, Friends.
Okay, Friends this one is a bit convoluted so stick with me.
The latest State budget deal takes about $50 million away from Orange County. How come? Best I can figure it out is this: after the bankruptcy of 1995 the County sold recovery bonds and the State sequestered about $50,000,000 annually to pay off the bond holders from part of the Vehicle License Fee that was distributed to the County. Later when the VLF was swapped out for property tax income the payoff to bondholders still came from the VLF. When OC refinanced it’s debt in 2006 it started taking the VLF money directly from the State even though no other county got any of it.
Confused? In 2006 County Supervisor Bill Campbell said he wasn’t, but he failed to do anything about the money hanging out there according to Voice of OC (EA)’s Norberto Santana, here. It seems he didn’t want to address the issue and hoped everybody would forget about it. That lame strategy worked for about 5 years. Now the State is laying claim to the dough.
The worst malefactor here is County CEO Tom Mauk who has yet another catastrophe to lay claim to. Following swiftly on the heels of the disastrous Human Resource Department audit in which Mauk was busted giving his cronies huge raises and promotions, this latest calamity may prove to be the final nail in Mauk’s coffin.
Will three supervisors finally perform self cranial-rectal extraction and get rid of this bozo? They aren’t very bright but sooner or later…
Stay tuned.
We heard that Tuesday’s beating of a homeless man to near-death by Fullerton police may have been within range of one of the city’s surveillance cameras at the Fullerton Transportation Center…and so we sent our camera man over to check it out:
It looks like the camera had a clear shot of the bloody event. I suppose that if there is a tape, we won’t get to see it unless it exonerates the cops who were involved.
On the other hand, damning evidence will be held tightly by the city so as not to embarrass anyone or facilitate the requisite citizen outrage.
All the public can do is ask and see what happens.
Even so, the last resort in the quest for transparency would lie with our elected councilmembers, who are ultimately responsible for ensuring the safety of the public and can demand to see the recording for themselves.
And by senseless I mean near-death coma and artificial life-support.
Reader DollarBill shares this link to ABC Eyewitness News detailing the story of a homeless man with a history of mental illness, who, when confronted by “probably” six FPD officers at the Fullerton Transportation Center the other day is alleged to have resisted arrest. 37 year-old Kelly Thomas never made it to jail. After being subdued into a state of unrecognizable unconsciousness he was transported to the hospital where he is on life support.
Witnesses refused to appear on camera but claim to shouted to the cops to stop.
Our old friend police spokesman Andrew Goodrich says there will be an investigation (internal, of course) and that any inappropriate behavior will come out. Uh, yeah sure, Andy, whatever you say.
In the meantime you can bet on two things: the DA will do nothing, and the man’s family, including his dad, an ex-Sheriff Deputy will bring suit against us Fullerton taxpayers.
The other day FFFF received this rather odd comment on the blog:
“Thanks for risking your lives so that my family and I can enjoy OURS!”
– Joel Swintowski
There were links to a website here that sported an official-looking letter from Fullerton’s police officer’s union president, Barry Coffman asking for money. There was the quote from Mr. Swintowski, clearly implying that he supports the Fullerton police union.
I got to wondering who this Joel Swintowski person might be. I never heard of him. So last night I contacted our FFFF investigative team of people-finders and guess what they came up with? There’s no such registered voter in Fullerton or in all of Orange County with any such name.
But, as they say on TV infomercials: Wait! There’s more! I also found a host of identical websites for police unions across California with the same quote from this “Joel Swintowski” guy. Clearly this operation is a money gathering scheme organized by some entity and then sold to police unions throughout the state like this one in Menlo Park, probably with a hefty cut taken from proceeds collected from unsuspecting suckers.
Now back to Fullerton. Coffman says it’s a “donation” that he’s begging. The request for money states: “Your contribution to us today will help provide outreach and strengthen relations by and between the FPOA and several local worthy groups and charities.”
Now we know the FPOA spends tens of thousands of dollars trying to get right-thinking people elected to the Fullerton City Council. And by right-thinking, I mean “public safety” union stooges who will raise their pensions and lower their retirement age. Do any of these “contributions” find their way into political activity? Could be. They are not tax deductible – the kind of deduction you get making a contribution directly to a real charity, eliminating the pistol-packin’ middleman.
So who might some of these “worthy” recipients be? Any guesses?
Could they include the campaigns of the same two guys, Bankhead and McKinley, who are getting prepared to raise your water rates 91% so they can use a portion of that money to support their own plush $McMillion retirement plans?
Maybe it’s time for an IRS audit of this solicitation for alms. Maybe the State AG needs to be called in, again. You know, just to make sure it’s legit.
And in the meantime maybe it’s time for FPOA to find a real Fullerton resident for its self-promotional testimonials.