Cops Croak Combative Chemise-less Chap
The following is a Fullerton Police Department issuance:
Fullerton Police Officers responded to a restaurant located in the 1300 block of S. Brookhurst Rd on March 6 at 3:01 am regarding two males that were standing at the front of the doors, possibly under the influence of drugs. The reporting party, who was the manager of the business, was concerned for the employees’ safety as they began to arrive for work.
Officers arrived on the scene and contacted one shirtless male adult, who was uncooperative with Officers’ commands. The male began swinging a belt at officers as they attempted to contact him. Additional officers were requested, and once they arrived, they utilized a taser to attempt to subdue the suspect, which was ineffective.
The suspect continued to act erratically and was uncooperative as he refused to comply with officers’ commands. Officers then utilized a less lethal kinetic energy projectile and struck the suspect, allowing officers to take him into custody. At this time in the investigation, it is believed the suspect sustained a significant injury to the chest area as a result of the use of the less lethal kinetic energy projectile.
Officers began life-saving measures while paramedics responded. The suspect was transported to a local trauma center, where he was later pronounced deceased.
As is standard practice in Orange County, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office will conduct an independent in-custody death investigation.
The Orange County Coroner will release the deceased suspect’s identity.
It would be nice to take FPDs statement at face value, but given both the history of the department, it’s unreformed record, and the nature of police reports in general, it would be unwise to do so. I won’t comment on the propriety of this episode other than to point a out a few of the typical bias issues with the report that are clearly intended to sway public opinion in the police direction, regardless of the central facts of the actual encounter. We’ve seen it lots of times before in Fullerton.
It’s 3 o’clock in the morning at a restaurant, most likely the McDonald’s store, which is in the 1300 block of South Brookhurst. Two dudes are hanging out in front of the doors, as reported by the store manager, who is apparently concerned for the safety of his incoming employees, and who has called for the police. So far so good.
Except that the two are reported as being possibly under the influence of drugs. It’s also possible that they are not under the influence of drugs. And here’s where the narrative gets loosey goosey because we don’t know, and won’t know until the Coroner is done with the corpus delecti, oops, the body.
We learn from the report that the cops on the scene encounter “one male,” shirtless; male #2 presumably has decamped. The fact that the man is inexplicably not wearing a shirt at 3am is further non-evidence in the effort to direct us to the inevitable exculpation of the police.
We are informed that the man was uncooperative with commands. Not knowing what the commands were, we are left to assume they were legal commands. Mr. Shirtless, removes his belt and swings it at the cops as they try to “contact” him. Contact? Verbally? Physically? What for? Has he even broken any laws at this point? Your guess is as good as mine. Fearing for their safety (no doubt) the cops on the scene request back-up, which arrives. Is Shirtless still swinging the belt? Don’t know. But rather than physically restrain Shirtless, somebody decides he needs a Tasing as a form of attitude adjustment. Which, of course fails.
Now there are multiple officers on hand and Shirtless still remains uncooperative to commands and erratic, another subjective and loaded term. Is he still swinging the belt after the failed Tasing? Don’t know. Still no mention of an attempt at physical restraint by any of the multiple, presumably fit officers. At this juncture somebody decides to hit the man with a “less lethal kinetic energy projectile” which hits him in the chest. I don’t know what a less lethal kinetic energy projectile is, but I guess if you hit somebody in the wrong place (and I don’t mean the 1300 Block of South Brookhurst), you can kill him. In this case, the technique wasn’t less lethal.
The police offer “life-saving measures” that don’t work, either, and the man is hauled of to a trauma center where he is “later” pronounced deceased, although the wording implies that the death, not the announcement came later. We don’t actually know when the man died.
There are lots of specific questions about this encounter, such as several failed tactics and the possibility of escalation, none of which is offered in the press release. Will we find out? The DA won’t help with transparency and neither will the FPD. But, surely Mr. Shirtless has relatives, and the relatives will have lawyers.
Calling Garo Mardirossian, calling Garo Mardirossian.
These reports are ALWAYS self-serving. Remember the odious Goodrich and his phony reporting on the Kelly Thomas murder?
Thanks for reminding us of the porcine liar Goodrich – the only person rung up by Gennaco in the Kelly Thomas murder cover-up.
And of course no punishment, either. Which is why their public statements should NEVER be taken at face value.
They will probably release cop-cam footage. But not all of it.
The fact is some cops are determined to shoot something at somebody.
Why don’t we get them a big net they can throw over “uncooperative” shirtless dudes since they are obviously afraid of a belt and don’t feel like grabbing a dude.
They can call it “trawling for deadbeats.”
But then they won’t get to shoot something at somebody! They also are determined to beat somebody to death with their fists and feet. I am proof of that fact.
Fullerton cops are criminals. I welcome you Mr. Doe to eternity.
Seems like someone should at least mention the video already available. Guy was gacked to the gills on meth. https://www.ocregister.com/2024/03/06/erratic-man-in-front-of-fullerton-mcdonalds-dies-after-shot-by-police-with-beanbag-authorities-say/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttThrDv23n8
You don’t approach someone like this to go “hands on” because you don’t know if he or his buddy are armed with a gun or knife. He’s refusing commands. He’s acting erratically. The officers made the correct tactical choice here.
My heart goes out to the officers involved in this clearly unintended death. I know it weighs heavily on them. All the suspect had to do was cooperate and the officers never would have been placed in a position where they had to use force.
You may be right. The cops never release video unless it’s confusing enough or chopped up enough to be unclear.
How come the guy’s wearing a shirt? And how come the report mentions one male?
More questions, eh?
The situation was likely unfolding for quite a few minutes between the time of the initial call, the arrival of officers, the deployment of the less lethal device and the use of the less lethal device. Whether was or was not wearing a shirt at any time during the incident is completely irrelevant. His behavior is what is relevant.
Funny how keyboard warriors who probably aren’t brave enough to even consider a career in policing much less approach someone that high on meth where you don’t know if he has any weapons are so quick to criticize. Bad things happen very, very fast. Decisions to deploy a weapon have to be made in seconds, sometimes less than a second, and you don’t have the luxury of spending minutes or hours with diagrams and videos deciding what to do. Nobody should expect officers to sacrifice officer safety, much less their lives, because someone has chosen to get high on meth and refused to cooperate with officers’ instructions.
They didn’t know if he had weapons or not, he was high as a kite, he was not complying, he was swinging a belt at them (how’d you like to get hit in the face with a belt buckle?), they used less lethal, they did not intend to kill him. If a court decides that what happened entitles someone’s family to civil penalties, so be it, but to suggest something nefarious happened here or a crime was committed by the officers is wildly inappropriate. I guarantee you those officers didn’t want that guy to be harmed, they only wanted to control him.
I suggest you take the Citizen’s Academy if you want to know more about policing and be in a better position to objectively understand how these incidents unfold. https://www.cityoffullerton.com/government/departments/police/police-services/citizen-s-academy
Decisions to deploy fists and feet to beat someone to death do not happen very, very fast. It is intentional.
It’s institutional.
“Funny how keyboard warriors who probably aren’t brave enough to even consider a career in policing much less approach someone that high on meth where you don’t know if he has any weapons are so quick to criticize.”
Cold Balls never stopped to think for one second that perhaps one “keyboard warrior” was a decorated special forces veteran who served many missions in terrain MUCH more DANGEROUS than Fullerton.
We are hero! We never wrong! We braver then you! If you criticize, you coward!
Your reading comprehension skill are pretty bad, but not unusual for a cop.
Try actually reading what I wrote:
“I won’t comment on the propriety of this episode other than to point a out a few of the typical bias issues with the report that are clearly intended to sway public opinion in the police direction, regardless of the central facts of the actual encounter. We’ve seen it lots of times before in Fullerton.”
My complaint is not about the confrontation because I don’t have any fact thanks to a very useless and typically self-serving press release meant to preemptively divert criticism, real or imagined.
BTW, I would rather be hit in the face with a belt buckle than kill a man who wasn’t threatening my life. You Heroes are great at the “it’s so dangerous” routine even as your job gets actuarily safer and safer.
Soooo. 5 big cops can’t subdue 1 jacked up punk?
Nobody suggested the cops committed a crime ya dope.
“Nobody should expect officers to sacrifice officer safety…”
Then the job’s not very dangerous, is it, given the fact that half a dozen armed cops were justified to plunk one guy swinging a belt. Maybe even a keyboard warrior like me could do the job.
FPD makes Fullerton more dangerous because of the institutionalized cover-up of misconduct. They must be replaced with a real, professional public safety agency. OCSD or a neighboring city that doesn’t have a track record of beating and murdering its citizens.
OCSD has a pretty rotten record, too.
“Whether was or was not wearing a shirt at any time during the incident is completely irrelevant.”
The point of the post, if you had been paying attention. Why was that fact (or quasi fact) in the report? It was there to affect public opinion.
And the FPD cops that murdered me “didn’t want that guy to be harmed”, they just wanted to “fuck me up” a bit for sport. They “only wanted to control ” me but ended up murdering me. STFU and sit down! You have no legs to stand on here given the history of FPD.
It’s adorable when cops say “less lethal” after a device was lethal.
A GSW would, in many instances, have been actually “less lethal” because you can stop bleeding quicker than you can fix a drugged out heart you just exploded with a beanbag round. A cop chooses to use a tactic that killed somebody and you feel bad for the cop, what a sad commentary on policing.
Corrupt and full of villains, Fullerton PD is.
Is my mama Kathryn Hamel? Why didn’t you just tell me up close and show me your vericose veins?
This baby Yoda in Anaheim. You have money take care of your vericose veins. Are you attracted to someone that use to live in Stanford homes place of mentally ill. I am going to be honest. Why didn’tyoumake an effort in getting to know me.I know your attracted to me huh? Admit it! I am straight. I am A,K.A ( Angelus Constantinople)
Crazy and meth gacked you are. Shoot you with “less lethal”, lethal weapons FPD will.
There’s a lot of gackness going on, Yoda.
And how do YOU know the guy “was gacked to the gills on meth?”
Maybe there was some sort of psychosis going on for another reason.
https://youtu.be/ttThrDv23n8
Online video from OC Hawk. In the good ol days, it would have been FFFF.
Thanks. I’d like to know how this guy got unshirted. The PR made it appear that the guy was shirtless when they rolled up. Another deliberate misdirection by the PIO.
FPD are natural born killahz. Hector Hernandez we say your name. Kelly Thomas we say your name. Fuck the police!!!!!!!!!! Bring in the sheriff’s department. Ask Mayor Nick to stand up to corrupt killer cops and stop the slaughter of innocent lives. IF MAYOR NICK HAS BALLS!!!!!!!
Mayor Nick caved into a half dozen old women and some grandmothers from the barrio.
Nick’s all bark. No bite. He’s a fraud who likes the glory and is too lazy to do the work to change things.
At some point someone is just going to cancel Fullerton’s liability insurance.
“At this time in the investigation, it is believed the suspect sustained a significant injury to the chest area…”
Or, in regular English: We shot him in the chest and killed him.
https://streamable.com/e/prxp5r
Looks like an execution.
Video does not correlate with police statement. The
Final shot that brought him down was administered when he was standing without much movement and also because he was not complying with verbal commands.
Could a different tactic in the late stages have helped the situation better
Fullerton Cops love to hurt and murder people. They have a stellar track record that proves it!
Notice how Cold Chillin Cop Balls shut his pie hole when the facts flow and contradict FPD fiction? Cold balls is right — ice cold and shriveled with fear and cowardice!
Let’s change over to OCSD and maybe they can do some training and blow each other up
Better than being beaten to death by a pack of violent, wild thugs and sociopaths, hiding behind a badge and masquerading as peace officers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nOieJOffgE&rco=1