January 13 marks the first anniversary of two officers charged in the death of Kelly Thomas being found not guilty by a jury, and the announcement by the office of the District Attorney that charges against a third officer would be dropped. This anniversary will be observed at 6:30 tonight at Kelly’s Corner, 123 E. Santa Fe Avenue, near the spot where the schizophrenic homeless man was beaten so severely by Fullerton police officers that he never regained consciousness.
In the three and a half years since his death, Kelly’s final heartbreaking cries of “Dad! Help me. Help me. Help me, dad!” as officers pummeled him with blows have been echoed by gasps of “I can’t breathe” by a more recent victim of unjustified police violence. Others had no chance to speak before being gunned down. Although nationwide killings by police have been, with some justification, cited as acts of racism against people of color, the killing of Kelly Thomas, who was white, demonstrated that unprovoked and/or excessive acts of violence by police officers against civilians (and sometimes themselves) in the United States is an equal opportunity epidemic.
A year ago a police helicopter hovered overhead as an angry, but peaceful, crowd pondered the state of their society, where a man’s beating death could be captured on videotape, but the perpetrators could go completely unpunished by the law. On that night, it seemed that only those outraged by these circumstances would be subject to the force of the law.
Three and a half years after the killing of Mr. Thomas, the three officers originally charged in his death have been fired, but three more present at the scene are still on the force. There is still no public oversight of the Fullerton Police Department. Instead, the Office of Independent Review was contracted to periodically audit materials selected by the Chief of Police from it’s own internal affairs investigations. We await the public release of the first review…
fullertonrag.com 
I read a very good comment among thousands since last summer. Whereas retaliation is well known if a cop crosses the blue line rather than lie or look the other way when cops kill or commit other crimes, allow that cop to be part of an oversight committee that includes members of the public. This way, he or she is not placed back onto the street but in perfect position to help weed out the bad so the good can regain trust and support.
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A separate entity besides the local district attorney’s office MUST investigate and prosecute crimes committed by law enforcement personnel in order to end the epidemic of unprofessional conduct by our law enforcement officers.
Anything less is intellectually dishonest.
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I agree, Mark. The DA’s office relies a lot on LE agencies for many of their cases and rightfully so. But therein lies the conflict of interest that supports what you just said.
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I agree Mark. However, the real problem is that we have too many people in positions of power who do not believe they need to do the right thing every time they make a decision that impacts all of us. You know the old saying garbage in, garbage out. If the people in charge have a deficit of integrity and honor, any system can and will be corrupted. That is why it is so important that when you vote for someone especially for local office (where local citizens could have the greatest impact on their government) you know not only their publicly announced positions but you know their character. Voting for someone because you think their stated positions more closely align with yours without knowing their character or worse ignoring their bad character will usually end bad for the voter.
Here is a question to all of you. Is it better to elect someone who has high moral character and will decide each issue on the merits even though there may be a few times when you may disagree with them?
OR
Is it better to vote for someone whose stated positions are aligned sightly more closely with yours but has real character issues?
I report, you decide.
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Thank you Mark, your comment is spot on, your suggestion needs to be adopted by all police agency’s. Until that kind of independent review happens we will continue to witness more violence, and police brutality. ……I am a supporter of the Police, and realize the often thankless job that they have. But, as an educated Social Worker, I soon realized I was not equipped to do the job I was educated to do. I chose another career feeling like I was leaving a profession that in a short amount of time so affected my judgements that I had to get out. I wonder, how many police officers, at some point, come to the same conclusion? But, the real question is how many are willing to walk away? Will
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I understand what your saying Barry, however, if our creator says that we are not to judge each other, than who gets to decide what is “high” moral character and what isn’t?
I find life’s a lot easier if I don’t impose my own sense of morality onto others. Doesn’t seem fair to others, or myself.
Do you think that Jennifer Fitzgerald, who holds a college degree in bible studies from BIOLA University(Bible Institute of Los Angeles), has an ounce more of moral fiber than a homeless person whom we know nothing about?
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There has been enough written about Ms. Fitzgerald for the readership to make their own determination about her moral fiber. Mark I am not imposing my own sense of mortality, rather I am taking God’s words on morality, the Ten Commandments. Thous shall not lie. Thou shall not bear false witness. Thou shall not steal, etc.
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No “Thou shall not lie” in the Decalogue, Barry.
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I only have one commandment which is to love one another. The greatest gift in life will always be to love, and to be loved in return.
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If one truly loves another they would not steal from them, covet thy neighbor’s wife and they certainly would show love by honoring thy mother and father. Love is an emotion that is only shown to another by demonstrations of good deeds toward that person.
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Exactly…Love is the fundamental principal for all things that equate to good behavior.
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One last thought on what might have perpetrated this evil…and as usual it’s money
http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/fullerton/
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