Well, I was over at the Fullerton (California) Police Department web site and am proud to announce that the FPD has a new member, “Mueller,” a black and brown Malanois.
In other news, not on the web site, Two FPD officers have been charged in the beating death of a mentally-ill man. Here you can hear him begging for his father to stop the police from killing him.
The other four officers at the scene have not been charged.
“Would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for those pesky kids.”
So anyway, the whole FPD family welcomes Mueller. That other thing? No comment.
Press reports seem to indicate the 911 call indicating there was someone breaking into cars at the bus station never happened.
The police chief is taking sick leave.
The city council is being threatened by a recall movement.
The mayor has said some boneheaded things on TV about (you are ahead of me) the kid who was killed.
The DA seems to be repressing the surveillance video.
I haven’t looked at the video, but I think as a general policy all police actions should be video taped. I guess there would have to be some exceptions for undercover work, but seriously, more video tape!
Filing of Charges in the Death of Kelly Thomas: Statement by Acting Chief of Police Kevin Hamilton
Today, the Orange County District Attorney, Tony Rackauckas, announced the filing of felony charges against two Fullerton Police Officers. The charged officers are Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli. The charges stem from the Orange County District Attorney’s investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Kelly Thomas who died on July 10, 2011, after an altercation with Fullerton Police Officers at the Fullerton transportation center on July 5, 2011.
I have to admit I didn’t know what a “Malanois” was, and until I looked it up I thought maybe it was a racial term like “mulatto”. Made the OP a little more interesting to me.
These are family men, good men and they did nothing wrong. It was a harmless prank that got out of control. Nothing actually happened. The other guy started it, so it’s all his fault. It’s just a few bad apples. The guy they killed was bad/different/other. The video is too hazy to make out what happened. It’s under review.
It links to the correct page for me. Here’s the relevant bit:
*Police agencies across America are increasingly using audio and video devices to collect evidence, and they played a crucial role in prosecutors bringing murder charges this week against Ramos and an involuntary manslaughter count against a colleague, Cpl. Jay Cicinelli.
The violent encounter with Kelly Thomas was captured on surveillance video, but prosecutors say it was only when they paired the images with police audio that they understood what they were seeing. They said Thomas was pummeled, shocked with a Taser, beaten with a stun gun and taunted by Ramos as he stood over the victim and declared: “Now see my fists? They are getting ready to F you up.”
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas called that statement — and the fact it was recorded — a turning point.
“This encounter had changed from a fairly routine police detention into an impending beating at the hands of an angry police officer,” Rackauckas said. “Ramos instilled in the victim a reasonable fear that his life was in danger.”
Fullerton uses a device sold by Riverside-based Versatile Information Products Inc., which contracts with electronics-maker Olympus to customize standard digital voice recorders.
At the end of each shift, officers transfer files onto a server that backs them up as long as needed. The devices, used by hundreds of police agencies, do not let officers edit files, and they show if anything has been deleted.*
