Kelly Thomas was a 37-year-old homeless man, who also happened to suffer from schizophrenia, living in Fullerton, California. When police in the area received word that somebody was breaking into cars near the town's bus station, Thomas caught their attention.
Officers approached Thomas in the bus depot, where he presumably lived, and tried to arrest him; Thomas supposedly resisted. The cops proceeded to Tase and beat him so badly that he was placed on life support, only to die three days later.
The problem with this whole mess, other than the fact that a man was beaten to death, is that a student nearby actually filmed the whole thing. And Thomas wasn't resisting arrest at all. He was actually crying out for his dad.
Mark Turgeon, the man who caught everything on tape, described Thomas as peaceful during his arrest. He said, "They kept beating him and Tasering him [when] he wasn't even moving." There are some people in the town who felt Thomas was scary and prone to yelling, but the majority of people paint him as a "very quiet and polite" man. I never met Thomas personally, but judging by the tape, I think I would probably agree with his description as peaceful.
The thing is, even if Thomas wasn't a peaceful man, even if he was violently resisting arrest, does that give police officers the right to kill him? There is no report of him having a weapon, so their lives clearly weren't in danger. These cops, who are staying mum on the incident, essentially gave a man the death penalty for failing to cooperate. If you want to see the really disturbing photo of what Thomas looked like, you can click here. Warning, though, really disturbing.
Police officers who treat anyone this way -- much less someone who is mentally ill and obviously needs help -- should have their badges taken away. They shouldn't be allowed to walk around with guns. This is no way to enforce the law or protect the citizens of their town. It's simply a way for them to get out their own anger. They are way more dangerous than Kelly Thomas ever could have been.
Watch the video -- which only features audio -- below.
Do you think this is right?
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Comments 71
They should go to prison for murder
thats horrible. billsfan, youre nuts. if you don't like the bloggers here then why are you constantly trolling around and pissing ppl off on the comments section? im in the military and we and cops all learn that you use the least amount of deadly force possible. you only kill when absolutely necessary. even in hand to hand combat you use non deadly force to subdue your attacker. one mentally ill man without a weapon vs. a group of armed, angry cops...thats a disgrace.
People just don't understand homeless and they treat them bad, not all of them are on drugs. Some people just never had a chance at life nor was able to take the chances of opportunities, because of lack of other resources, such as a car or available transportation, lack of even being able to get to where they need to go along with lack of money, as well as mental disabilities that people don't seem to accept even in this generation where almost half the populations is either bipolar or ADD. The problem is homeless shelters aren't doing what they claim they're doing in publicity. They just take the funding, and they never train anyone, for jobs, nor do they in the long run help with independant living. I blame the state, for not helping this man in his time of need.
Lol, Billsfan incites hysteria by taking a jab at a writer for inciting hysteria.
PS, I don't think there are any circumstances when beating a handcuffed person to the point of COMA and DEATH is justified.
Sick. Does anyone have an update on the cops who did this?