A disturbing video has been released showing two officers beating Kelly Thomas, a homeless man, to death as he plead with the officers to stop.
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The 33-minute video was shown publicly for the first time Monday in an Orange County courtroom as a judge decides if Officer Ramos and Cpl. Jay Cicinelli will stand trial in the death of Thomas.
According to the Associated Press:
The video shows Thomas pulling on his long, straggly hair while police search his backpack during an investigation at a transit hub last July.
Moments later, Ramos snaps on latex gloves and threatens to take on the mentally ill homeless man.
Thomas said he forgot his name and didn’t sit with his feet stretched out in front of him, as police had ordered. When he got up, Ramos and another officer swung at him with their batons and pinned him to the ground.
“I can’t breathe man,” Thomas moaned shortly before another officer used a Taser on him, according to a transcript of the muffled recordings.
“Dad, help me Thomas says. Prosecutors say he suffered from schizophrenia and had trouble complying with police.
Ramos is a 10-year-veteran of the Fullerton Police Department and is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Cicinelli, who has worked in Fullerton since 1999, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and excessive force. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Parts of the grainy nighttime video are unclear, and there is background noise from dispatchers and the transit hub where the arrest occurred while police were investigating a report of car burglaries.
Prosecutors say the beating began after two officers responded to reports that a homeless person was looking in cars and rattling door handles in the transit hub where numerous buses come and go and commuters park their cars.
Prosecutors say Ramos punched Thomas in the ribs, tackled him and lay on him to pin him down. They say Cicinelli used a Taser four times on Thomas as he screamed in pain and also hit him in the face eight times with the Taser.
Thomas lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital. He was taken off life support and died five days later.
Ramos and Cicinelli crushed Thomas’ thorax, which made it impossible for him to breathe normally and deprived his brain of oxygen.
But a medical center trauma surgeon said that continuous compression of Thomas’ chest is what caused breathing problems that led to his death.
Dr. Michael Lekawa testified Tuesday in response to intense questioning by attorneys for two Fullerton officers charged with killing Kelly Thomas last July.
One attorney asked whether performing CPR for a long time might cause the problems that led to Thomas’ death.
Prosecutors contend that Ramos and Cicinelli punched and pinned down Thomas, and that he died from mechanical compression of the thorax, which made it impossible for him to breathe normally.
The testimony came in a preliminary hearing to determine whether the officers must stand trial.
Thomas’ father Ron Thomas said the video shows there was no struggle while his son was on the ground being kneed by officers who huddled over him.
“It’s made up to make Kelly look so bad and the officers the victim,” Thomas told reporters outside court.
The FBI launched an ongoing investigation to determine if Thomas’ civil rights were violated. The city of Fullerton is also conducting an internal investigation.
SOURCE: AP
