A Story To Cherish

If you haven’t been following the news in California recently, you may not be familiar with Kelly Thomas or the circumstances surrounding his death. Kelly was a mentally ill homeless man that was brutally beaten by six Fullerton police officers earlier this year. He died from the injuries inflicted during the attack five days later. However tragic, typically a story like this would be in the news for a short period time before being swept under the carpet in hopes that the public would just chalk it up to an unsubstantiated complaint. What was different about Kelly’s ordeal was that the entire encounter was captured on video for the world to see and make their own decisions. Why is this still relevant? The six police officers responsible for Kelly’s death still haven’t been charged. The announcement is expected in the next few weeks and our community is holding its breath to see if there will be justice. Please don’t take my word on this. View the video or look at the before and after images. Here is the medical expert’s analysis of Kelly’s injuries and a cause of death report. Make your own decision

When I think about the whole situation, my stomach turns and I feel so incredibly angry. I wouldn’t call myself an optimist by any means, but I like to hope that as a society we’d learned something since Rodney King. At least the cops in that case were tried. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Fullerton DA has waited so long to announce his decision in hopes that the community will forget about Kelly and what happened to him. I was surprised to find that when I spoke with some friends, none of them even recognized his name. I’m so saddened when my generation has a chance to take a stand and make a difference, but they let it pass them by without a second thought.

On Saturday, thanks in large part to one of our groomsmen, a memorial concert and charity drive was held in Fullerton’s town square. Chris and I drove down to support our friends in Sederra. The event was a huge success and three of the local news stations ran stories on it. It was inspiring to see how many people feel as I do. However, if the Fullerton District Attorney declines to press charges against these killer cops, I know there will be many, many people who can no longer trust their justice system. What happens then? Who watches the watchmen?

There is nothing that justifies the extent of the injuries those cops inflicted on him.

He was murdered by those sworn to protect him.

We are not going away. Not until there is justice for Kelly.