In today’s LA Times an unnamed source in has indicated that the settlement of a sexual battery case with two women is going to cost us (you taxpayers, finally get it?) half a million bucks.
You remember the case, right? The one where FPD cop Albert Rincon alleged serially sexually assaulted women in the back of his patrol car; the one where Federal Judge Andrew Guilford refused the City’s request to throw the case out and issued a scathing opinion about the City’s complicity in the series of attacks by placing Rincon back on the streets of Fullerton to attack other women. Yeah, that one.
$500,000 right out of our pockets to pay for just one out of control cop and his bosses in the FPD who covered up for him. That would certainly include our MIA Chief Sellers and his predecessor and current council member Pat McKinley. And what in the world have former Fullerton cop Don Bankehead and Mayor Dick Jones been doing on the City Council for the past 23 and 15 years, respectively. They certainly appear unwilling to take any responsibility for the police department over which they were supposed to be asserting civilian control.
Remember to remind the Tumescent Trio of these facts tonight.
A couple nights ago KTLA served up a two-course menu with back to back stories on FPD disgraces. First they dove into Officer Albert Rincon’s sex assault case, where David Begnaud discovered that the city was planning to settle the Federal rights case with two of the seven women who say Rincon sexually assaulted them during wrongful arrests; followed by the report that somehow accused FPD murderer Manny Ramos was out on bail. Yay! More good news for the people of Fullerton.
You would think the folks over in City Hall would be getting just a little bit tired of all the horrific news coverage they’ve been getting, and start to clean up the mess they’ve made.
However, if you thought that you would be wrong. That is because nobody is in charge in City Hall. The monkeys have been permitted to run the zoo.
In yesterday’s OC Register, Councilman Pat McKinley, the chief architect of the Fullerton Police Department’s profound culture of corruption, responded to the news that KFI’s John and Ken are coming to Fullerton to promote his recall.
“They are toxic people who create problems for a lot of folks. I wish they would stay away.”
More PR gold from the man who ran the FPD into a moral cesspool during his 16-year stint as Chief of Police.
Oddly, McKinley has offered no public opinion as to the comparative toxicity of:
1) police officer sentenced to jail for fraud to support his pill habit.
2) police officer arrested in Miami airport for iPad theft.
3) police officer who smashed recording device on jail wall to avoid complicity in jail suicide.
4) police officers beating up and falsely arresting Veth Mam.
5) police officers lying on the witness stand about Veth Mam.
6) police officer beating up and falsely arresting Edward Quinonez.
7) police officer sexually assaulting a dozen women in the backseat of his patrol car, with recording device turned off.
8 ) police officers issuing traffic citations to harass protesters.
9) police officers ambushing and murdering a helpless homeless man.
10) police officers turning off recording devices during murder.
11) police officers colluding to falsify reports about said murder.
12) superior officers coaching said falsification.
13) return to street of said miscreants.
14) police officer spokeshole deliberately issuing lies to the media to misdirect, temporize, stall and otherwise obscure said murder and cover up.
15) councilmembers insulting protesters as “lynch-type mob.”
16) councilmembers discounting injuries of murder victim.
17) police officer arrests Emmanuel Martinez by mistake (or on purpose) and he spends 5 months in jail.
Good God! What a litany of toxic behavior, and the really scary part is that this is only the stuff we know about. And the chowderhead McKinley has the nerve to call anybody else on the planet “toxic?” The level of denial of responsibility is remarkable. Of course being given a $215,000 a year pension may create an unavoidable attitude of arrogance and self-entitlement.
However, Mr. McPension has a generous streak, to be sure:
“Councilman Pat McKinley said he supports the radio hosts right to stage a rally, but the former Fullerton police chief certainly disagrees with the pair’s opinions…”
Well, thanks awfully, Pat. You support the First Amendment. Well, you support it when people are watching, obviously. No elaboration about what he specifically disagrees with John and Ken about.
Accused murderer Manny Ramos was able to make bail early this morning, and KTLA says the fundraising was done by Ramos’ fellow Fullerton police officers.
One of our readers passed along this letter purportedly from FPD officer Benjamin Lira seeking donations to get Ramos out of jail. It was posted to the Big City Cops Facebook page, an online hangout for off duty cops.
Check out that nifty logo of the police group who was passing around the letter. I’m told that oderint dum metuant is Latin for “Let them hate so long as they fear.”
There’s a new filing in the Officer Rincon sexual assault case, and it’s not looking good for the city.
Federal Judge Andrew Guilford turned down the City’s request to throw out the case, and he offered his pointed thoughts on the Fullerton Police Department’s policy of ignoring officer misdeeds:
The Judge chastised the city for “tacit authorization” of Rincon’s despicable behavior.
Then the judge was shocked at the city’s failure to appropriately discipline the officer for his sexual assaults on multiple women.
Finally, the judge conveyed his dismay that Rincon is still on the loose with a gun and a badge.
Of course, the man responsible for puting, and keeping loverboy on the streets of Fullerton to prey upon unsuspecting women was none other than former police chief and current city councilman, Pat McKinley.
I wonder what Chief Pat has to say about the Judge’s comments? I wonder what his defenders – who like to call Fullerton a “family community” – have to say.
Lookin' out for the ladies. Oh, yeah!
And of course I wonder how many of the people that voted for this screw-up last November would have done so had they known of the extensive culture of corruption that was cultivated by McKinley in the Fullerton Police Department; a cultivation that is only now blossoming into a full, noxious bloom.
For months FPD spokeshole Andrew Goodrich has been telling the public that Kelly Thomas fought with the police, that there was an “altercation.” That was the Big Lie of course, but the lazy cowards who still work for the OC Register were only too happy to pass that along in their cavalier description of what we knew happened all along: a cold blooded murder. At first they characterized it as a scuffle and a tussle. Then they decided that “fight” was just about right.
Here’s a vide that captures some of the chilling truth about what happened. But not all of the truth, because that is still being withheld from us, and that is why the public should see the video for themselves, with no more self-serving interpretations from the cops.
Friends, we just received this e-mail from a gentleman named George Marshall Thompson who asked if we would publish it. Yes, we will, George. ‘Cause that’s how we roll. And thanks for the submission.
Dear FFFF,
We all saw Fullerton councilman, former police chief and architect of the culture of corruption within the FPD, on CNN. After his cavalier and insulting comments about facial injuries he indicated his belief that it was probably just two cops involved in the murder of Kelly Thomas. He also denied seeing the video.
And after the DA charged only Ramos and Cicinelli with crimes, I’m starting to get a picture in my mind. And that picture ain’t pretty.
We can speculate all day about whether or not McKinley saw the video and then lied about it; or simply read the doctored reports; or received “unofficial” briefings from his pals in the department and the FPOA to which his colleagues on the council were not privy. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if something tumbles out of McKinley’s closet when he is deposed by Garo Mardirossian. But something else is disturbing: the fact that McKinley’s ostensible “speculation” about two cops mirrored anonymous troll comments on this site and ultimately neatly corresponded with the DAs charges.
Is it conspiratorialist to suggest that it McKinley himself participated in the plan to hold Ramos and Cicinelli under the bus as a form of damage control for the other four cops, and more importantly from his perspective, for the good of the whole FPD? Maybe, but it sure is weird that McKinley seemed to know what was going to happen six weeks before it did. And McKinley isn’t psychic. He isn’t even very smart.
Throughout this whole affair I’ve picked up the vibe that it was McKinley who was calling the shots for the City of Fullerton as disaster after disaster piled up; that it was he who told Sellers and Praet to try to buy off the dad, and that he was receiving inside information, perhaps not even shared with the City Manager, and certainly not with Whitaker or Quirk.
Maybe someday we’ll know McKinley’s role throughout the so-called “internal investigation” that never even started until Gennaco was hired. In the meantime one thing remains crystal clear to me. It was McKinley’s total lack of oversight of his own police department that led to the horror show that’s been unfolding the past few months, and that keeps unfolding as more and more Fullerton cops are busted for one crime or another.
The reputation of the Fullerton Police Department is unreveling before our very eyes. And the people of Fullerton are going to pay dearly for the corruption therein.
Watch as the DA explains how the other four officers involved in the Kelly Thomas murder did not mention excessive force when they wrote their reports of the incident.
Also recall that those reports were supposedly written (and even more importantly, rewritten) to the satisfaction of “The Management” who watched the tape.
Put it all together and you’ve got the makings of a full-fledged cover up.
Who were the FPD managers who orchestrated the collusion and the falsification of what they all knew to be true? We’d like to know Mssrs. Bankhead, Jones and McKinley, if it isn’t too much trouble!
The Killing of Kelly Thomas & The Power of New Media by Paul Detrick of Reason.com analyzes the effectiveness of amateur video, internet communication and the perseverance of ordinary citizens against the intransigence of institutional power.
Note CSUF Professor Jarrett Lovell’s assessment of the Fullerton Police Department’s Public Information Officer.
Officer Manuel Ramos will be charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Cpl. Jay Cicinelli will be charged with involuntary manslaughter and use of excessive force.
