http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0114-kelly-thomas-verdict-20140114,0,2857207,full.story#axzz2qgG1Uj9z
I really don't mean to start floundering here, but has anyone else been following the Kelly Thomas case in California? Basically, homeless schizophrenic man stopped by police, two cops taunt him, taze him, and then beat him to death with their bare hands on video as four more join in, while horrified onlookers beg them to stop.
The officers were acquitted earlier this week. If you watch the footage (and I recommend you do), you will be absolutely horrified: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fullerton-353158-thomas-unedited.html
The piece of artwork below pretty succinctly describes my view...
I wasn't able to sleep the first night after watching the video....
I really don't mean to start floundering here
If it looks like a flounder, and smells like a flounder...
The case isn't much of a flounder. It's absolutely disgusting and this sort of thing isn't as uncommon as you'd think.
Also, who was controlling the camera, and did nothing?
stuart in mn wrote:
I really don't mean to start floundering here
If it looks like a flounder, and smells like a flounder...
As Maroon92 posted, this is just the latest in a series of violent law enforcement incidents involving the mentally ill population. I mean, how is this acceptable? How have we reached this point? I don't feel like a discussion of this implies a tit-for-tat political brouhaha...besides, I virtually never post in off-topic, but this story really got me, and I'm wondering if I'm just a softie or if this is really as horrifying as it seems.
Maroon92 wrote:
Also, who was controlling the camera, and did nothing?
As far as I know, it was a security cam.
FYI- they didn't beat him to death. He died from the the officer sitting on his chest to subdue him.
Pretty E36 M3ty either way. A couple of the jurors had some quetionable links to the DA too.
I'm not sure how much it matters that he died from some fatass sitting on him vs. the beating. There's pictures floating around of his face in the hospital and it's not for weak stomachs.
This shows the root of our violence problem in the US. We do not have the right tools or people involved in dealing with the mentally ill.
Granted, these cops are worthless piles of steaming horse E36 M3 for what they did, no doubt about it but they are just the latest example that we have a mental health issue in this country.
Swank Force One wrote:
I'm not sure how much it matters that he died from some fatass sitting on him vs. the beating. There's pictures floating around of his face in the hospital and it's not for weak stomachs.
Here's the link if you think you're strong enough. That is not just some cop sitting on him.
http://universalfreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/01-kelly-1.jpg
Toronto shooting It isn't restricted to the States
Basic story is kid has a knife on an empty streetcar. Twenty cops on scene and one of them decides to shoot him multiple times. Kid dies. I'm generally a supporter of the police and I know they have a tough job, I wasn't there, etc. But I think they could have come up with a better solution.
In reply to Bobzilla:
Yup.
Ever notice that it was only after all the state run mental hospitals shut down that we started getting nutjobs shooting up movie theaters and stuff?
Thomas is not fully innocent in this of course (he was caught with stolen property, and was refusing to comply) but the cops should have at LEAST gotten use of excessive force or unintentional manslaughter. (no way murder was a charge that would ever stick)
As stated, and with other recent "incidents", the mental health issue is a huge one.
News today (I am somewhat local) is one of the cops is trying to get his job back, the city (they mayor or police chief?) is trying to stop that.
I read a comment about who become cops once, and I don't totally remember it, but it was something like: 1/3 of cops are cops because they want to try and make a difference, another third are there because they could not find a better job, and the other third are essentially thugs with a badge.
Duke
UltimaDork
1/17/14 12:51 p.m.
LAPD. 'Nuff said, very unfortunately,
It doesn't seem like a flounder to me. It does seem likely to end up divided along political predilections to some extent, but the noting of the incident as problematic doesn't seem like a problem to me.
It's horrible. It's horrible in its own fact, and it's terrifying that people we know and love, not to mention ourselves, rely on officers who may be no different to be impartial, fair, helpful, and not menaces unto themselves.
This incident involved a tiny subset of the police population, but the fact that it wasn't one officer losing it and the rest trying to stop him gives me chills.
SlickDizzy wrote:
Maroon92 wrote:
Also, who was controlling the camera, and did nothing?
As far as I know, it was a security cam.
Admittedly, I don't know much about security cameras, but do they have the ability to follow movements automatically? It looked like there was an operator that was swinging the camera around and focusing the lens...
If not, then I retract my previous statement.
yamaha
PowerDork
1/17/14 12:54 p.m.
In reply to aircooled:
Sounds about right with the breakup there.
Maroon92 wrote:
Also, who was controlling the camera, and did nothing?
What were they supposed to do? Call the cops?
...who watches the watchmen...
What aircooled said. I gather there was already a crowd pleading with them to stop.
I really don't see any other options. You'd be insane to physically try to stop the cops, and they're already being verbally requested to stop.
Maybe calling the cops is the (closest thing to an) answer; eventually maybe you get someone with enough authority showing up to stop it, or maybe you just get more 911 recordings attesting to the incident.
aircooled wrote:
Maroon92 wrote:
Also, who was controlling the camera, and did nothing?
What were they supposed to do? Call the cops?
...who watches the watchmen...
I've got some interesting CCTV vids saved... (no beatings)
"SANTA ANA, Calif. — A trauma surgeon said Tuesday that continuous compression of a California homeless man's chest during a confrontation with police officers caused breathing problems that led to his death.
The testimony by Dr. Michael Lekawa came during a hearing in response to intense questioning by attorneys for two Fullerton police officers charged with killing 37-year-old Kelly Thomas during an investigation of a reported car burglary at a transit hub last July.
Lekawa noted that surveillance video and audio recordings of the incident showed that Thomas' voice changed from initial shouts of "I can't breathe" to long, drawn-out moans before he stopped talking altogether.
Lekawa, chief of trauma surgery at University of California, Irvine Medical Center – where Thomas was taken after the confrontation – said he believes the incident caused Thomas' respiratory problems, which deprived his brain of oxygen."
What do you expect them to do, act like professionals? Professional what? Is the question.
