In early July, Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old, unarmed homeless and mentally ill Fullerton man was beaten to the point of brain damage by a group of six Fullerton police officers when he reportedly resisted arrest. Thomas was removed from life support by his family five days after the beating.
On Saturday, local residents demonstrated about the beating death. Scott Moxley of the OC Weekly reports:
….for six hours a diverse group of citizens–grandmothers, little kids, lawyers, college students, businessmen and women, housewives, ex-cops, young parents, a mechanic, a dentist, a construction worker, a guy who looked like he’d just left a gay leather bar–hell, you name a group and they were probably represented–stood outside the Fullerton Police Department, waved homemade signs and shouted in protest against a grotesque case of police brutality.
Over the weekend, the FBI announced that it would investigate.
Then on Monday, the OC Register reported that Thomas’s dad was offered $900,000 to settle any civil claims against the county.
The YouTube video in which Johnson can be heard to scream “Dad! Dad!” has done a lot to inflame passions, as has the photo of Thomas’s face after the beating, in which he appears to have been repeatedly pounded with meat hammers.
Kelly Thomas. A man with a name. Someone’s son. A homeless man.
What is wrong with the police and government? It seems that we Americans are losing our rights more and more everyday. Oh sure, the police will say he was resisting arrest but how many people does it take to beat an unarmed man to death, UNARMED! 135 lbs! The politicians will try to cover this over as will the Fullerton PD. Yes, I’ll bet this case will try to be settled out of court. Not only no but HELL NO!
Every evening I watch the National news and see the brutality in other countries but America the same! Is the nation becoming a country of narcisist individuals with Their own agendas. Kelly Thompson did not have a snow balls chance in Hell against the Fullerton PD. Shame, shame on them. Karma, I wonder if the Fullerton PD officers know what this is? Every one who believes in justice should take a stand. IF NOT NOW, WHEN? Will it be you next, or maybe me? It doesn’t matter what state that you live in it could be you next.