Lawsuit: Fullerton Bar Manager Enticed Police with a Lie Before Officers Beat Kelly Thomas to Death
Based
on a disturbing video released by Rackauckas at an April preliminary
hearing, we know what happened next: A group of cops hassled, chased
down and unnecessarily beat the unarmed, 37-year-old homeless man into a
bloody coma. When the officers finished beating a man who'd committed no
crime, they stood over his dying, mutilated body and demanded that
arriving paramedics treat their minor scratches first. The veteran, heavily armed cops
later would claim they were entitled to use overwhelming force on the
scrawny, 135-pound Thomas because they feared he might kill them with--you can't make this up--superhuman strength.
The DA decided to charge only two of the cops: Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli.
A judge refused their request dismiss the prosecution's case as weak. A third involved cop may eventually be
charged too.
According to Reeves, Popoff, DeMarco and other
Slidebar employees committed crimes by illegally conspiring to make
false charges against Thomas and using a 911 call to trick police.
Popoff has not yet filed a formal response to the June 8 lawsuit. But in prior communications with the Weekly, he adamantly denied that anyone at Slidebar, including himself, had ever called police to complain about Thomas.
It appears that assertion might now be tested in court.
Reeves' lawsuit has been assigned to Superior Court Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann.
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