FULLERTON – A 37-year-old man who suffered head and neck injuries was taken off life support five days after police say he fought with officers trying to search him.
Kelly Thomas, who was homeless and suffered from schizophrenia, died Sunday afternoon at UCI Medical Center in Orange, his father, Ron Thomas, said.
"It was a brutal beating," said Thomas, a former Orange County sheriff's deputy. "My son's injuries were more indicative of someone using techniques to take someone out, to kill them immediately."
The incident happened about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when officers went to investigate reports of a man trying to burglarize cars in a parking lot next to the bus depot in the 100 block of South Pomona Avenue, Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said.
Officers spotted a shirtless man with a beard, shorts and a backpack whom they suspected of being involved in the attempted burglaries, Goodrich said.
The man began to fight officers as they tried to search him, Goodrich said.
"We don't know why he was so combative and resistant to the officers, but it took upwards of five to six officers to subdue him," Goodrich said.
Read the rest HERE at the Orange County Register.
Dear Sgt. Goodrich,
Kelly Thomas was "so combative and resistant to the officers" because he was minding his own business and suffered from schizophrenia!
Some things are just to plain to see.
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