{"id":4772,"date":"2012-05-11T01:49:23","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T06:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/?p=4772"},"modified":"2012-05-11T01:49:23","modified_gmt":"2012-05-11T06:49:23","slug":"rodney-king-vs-kelly-thomas-compare-and-contrast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/?p=4772","title":{"rendered":"Rodney King vs Kelly Thomas – compare and contrast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Leykis describes himself as a Libertarian, and he is making the case of Kelly Thomas front and center on his new Internet-only show [here<\/a>].\u00a0 Tom has been on the radio in Los Angeles for about 20 years, and had developed a national audience that didn’t vanish when CBS dropped FreeFM.<\/p>\n

Each caller is typically “blown up” as they leave the air, usually choosing the way they want to be blown up – the more tasteless the better.\u00a0\u00a0 Tom has decided to make the situation that happened in Fullerton, California his “cause” and will be playing audio of what happened after each caller, blowing them up until he gets satisfaction from the Fullerton Police.<\/p>\n

This case is important in part as police agencies around the country push for laws to make it a felony to record what they are doing on video.\u00a0\u00a0 In this case, the damning video was recorded by the transit security cameras.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/lanow\/2012\/05\/kelly-thomas-case-two-fullerton-cops-ordered-to-stand-trial.html<\/a><\/p>\n

In the event you didn’t hear about it, here is the compare and contrast:<\/p>\n

Rodney King was endangering other people fleeing police on a freeway – Kelly Thomas was a mentally ill vagrant with a long unkempt beard who hung around the Fullerton city bus center wearing a backpack who was an annoyance to the police (and probably the people riding the buses) and suspected of breaking into parked cars.<\/p>\n

The “496” referred to in the video is section 496 of the California Penal code, which relates to being in possession of stolen property.\u00a0\u00a0 Kelly did not provide the police with an ID and had mail in his backpack that he couldn’t prove was his (it was addressed to an attorney).<\/p>\n

Here is the full 33 minute video.\u00a0\u00a0 For the few people who actually watched the Rodney King trial, it’s important to see the entire video, not just the worst 3 seconds over and over.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2012\/05\/08\/kelly-thomas-beating-video_n_1499771.html<\/p>\n

[What kind of equipment was used to make this?\u00a0 The camera is a block away, but the audio is clearly recording conversations between the people a block away? – it sounds like someone was carrying a portable recording device that was synced to the video]<\/p>\n

Kelly Thomas was uncooperative but did not physically resist the officers and consented to having his backpack searched.\u00a0 Rodney King exited his car and charged toward the police and after he was on the ground continued to be combative, trying to get up.<\/p>\n

Kelly Thomas is dead, Rodney King is not.\u00a0\u00a0 The lawyers for the police are trying to blame paramedics for mishandling his care (police allegedly insisted the Fire Dept paramedics treat their minor scratches first], or the doctors at the hospital for causing his death.\u00a0 Pay no attention to the pool of blood on the ground, the cracked ribs and broken bones in his face.<\/p>\n

Rodney King accepted a large financial settlement to settle a lawsuit.\u00a0\u00a0 Kelly Thomas’s father is an former officer in the Orange County Sheriff Department\u00a0 and wants justice, not the city’s money.<\/p>\n

The officers who beat Rodney King (with perhaps 2 hits on the legs by one officer) were following department “use of force policy” to the letter – not escalating violence unless faced with further resistance, and stopping if and when the suspect stops resisting and submits to being taken into custody. \u00a0 The Fullerton police were initiating the violence.\u00a0 Officer Ramos tells the man sitting on the ground that he is about to be beaten up “My fists are going to fuck you up”\u00a0 as he is putting on latex gloves [See:\u00a0 Premeditation] by Officer Ramos for being uncooperative.<\/p>\n

In both cases, police use tasers and assert that they failed to work because they believed the suspect was under the influence of drugs.\u00a0 I heard at least three times the officers say “He must be on something” as the rationalization for their use of force.\u00a0 No drugs or alcohol were found in Mr Kelly’s blood.\u00a0 While being something of a smartass, he appears coherent and aware of his surroundings prior to the beating.\u00a0 He died 5 days after the attack when the decision was made to end life support since he was brain dead.<\/p>\n

John D Barnett is the lawyer defending officers in both cases.<\/p>\n

At around 11:00 in the full video, another homeless guy who looks mentally ill tries to intervene saying he knows the guy, which probably wasn’t helpful and escalated the situation so they felt then needed to “do something” soon.<\/p>\n

The escalation starts around 14:40… the “See my fists, they’re gonna fuck you up” is at 15:25.\u00a0\u00a0 The mistake that ended his life happens at 15:42, when he stands up, triggering the two officers to begin the beating.\u00a0 He turns away from the officers – he isn’t acting is if he is going to assault the officers, but perhaps flee in fear, not unreasonable given the threat he just received.<\/p>\n

The time could come in the not so near future when people have to ask themselves if their local law enforcement is their protection or a danger to their well being.\u00a0 Things can get very complicated very fast on knowing who you can trust and who you can’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Leykis describes himself as a Libertarian, and he is making the case of Kelly Thomas front and center on his new Internet-only show [here].\u00a0 Tom has been on the radio in Los Angeles for about 20 years, and had … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collapse-of-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4772"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4775,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772\/revisions\/4775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}