A bloody beating by police that left a California homeless man dead began when one of the officers on trial in his death grew frustrated with his evasiveness, snapped on a pair of latex gloves and told him, “Now you see my fists? They’re getting ready to (expletive) you up,'” a prosecutor said Monday.
The warning came after the officer, Manuel Ramos, had bantered with Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old mentally ill man, for more than 10 minutes while investigating a call that Thomas had been tampering with cars at a Fullerton transit center, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told jurors in his opening statement at the trial.
“There was a change at this point, a significant change for the worse,” Rackauckas said. “This was the turning point where Ramos went from casual to malicious.”
Yes, by all means let’s give the police more Army surplus tanks and stuff.
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