An October trial date was set Friday for two ex-Fullerton police officers charged in connection with the beating death of a Kelly Thomas, a mentally-ill, homeless man. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Manuel Anthony Ramos, 39, and Jay Patrick Cicinelli, 41 will face a jury trial on October 18, according to 89.3 KPCC.
As you might imagine, this story was NOT reported by the Fullerton Police Department’s News blog.
Ron Thomas (pictured above), the father of Kelly Thomas, would like to combine the case of Joe Wolfe, a third former Fullerton police officer charged in the case, with the other two officers’ charged for one trial, as would OCDA Tony Rackauckas.
These brazen ex-cops have all pleaded not guilty and are out on bail.
Numerous witnesses saw and heard what happened as Kelly Thomas was beat to near death by Fullerton cops even as he begged them to stop. He even kept calling out for his father, who is a retired O.C. Deputy Sheriff. Thomas later died in the hospital and thanks to Friends of Fullerton’s Future blogger Tony Bushala the story got out became a media sensation. It was a very dark page in the history of Fullerton – and even now the Fullerton Police Department won’t acknowledge the case on their news blog. How sad is that?