Six police officers
brutally beat a homeless man named Kelly Thomas in Fullerton on July
5. After his violent encounter with the
Fullerton police, Thomas was left in a coma and hospitalized. He died
a few days later as a result of the beating.
The killing took place in
front of a busy public transit station in the evening and was sparked
by police who resorted to excessive force after Thomas allegedly
refused to let officers search him.
Police were looking
for someone reportedly breaking into cars when Thomas was targeted,
confronted and attacked by the officers.
Eyewitnesses said that the police ruthlessly beat Thomas with their
weapons and kicked and trampled him with their boots leaving his face
gruesomely disfigured and bloodied.
Kelly Thomas, 37,
had schizophrenia and was considered a gentle and friendly figure in
the Fullerton community.
Video footage of the
police attack taken by a witness at the bus station made it online,
going viral. The footage makes it clear that the officers
maliciously attacked Thomas who was unarmed and did not resist
arrest. At one point in the video, Thomas calls out for his father
while bleeding on the ground. He is then repeatedly tased by police
until left unconscious.
The six police
officers involved have not been charged
with any crime; the only punishment they have received has been
removal from duty.
Time after time
incidents such as this one make clear that
the police do not protect working-class people or our rights. Violent
confrontations with police are not unique incidents involving “rogue”
officers. Rather, physical violence and brute force tactics are part
of the basic training for officers across the United States, because
the police exist to terrorize our communities and to serve the
interests of the ruling class. They protect private property and
capitalist interests.
After the brutal
murder, the local community including members of Thomas’s family
organized a protest to denounce the Fullerton Police Department’s
protection of the six officers and demand accountability. The
outraged protesters carried signs that read “Fullerton
Police=Murder” and “Where is the
justice for Kelly?”
The myth of police
protecting and serving the working class will
continue to be shattered with every new case of police brutality.
Cases like that of Kelly
Thomas should remind us that we cannot let the police force paralyze
us. Taking to the streets when police commit murder or practice
violence against members of our community is the only way that real
justice will be served and the only way that the police will be held
accountable for such atrocities.
The Party for
Socialism and Liberation supports the demands for justice being
raised in Fullerton as the community seeks
to have criminal charges brought against all of the officers
involved.
Justice for Kelly
Thomas and all victims of police brutality!
