Mentally ill homeless man beaten to death by police. FBI called in to investigate.

What’s that old saying about absolute power corrupting absolutely?

Well in this case it seems that the police in Fullerton, California, took their power to the extreme and beat Kelly Thomas, a homeless man, who suffering from schizophrenia, to death. While the police officers in question are being investigated by the Orange County District Attorney’s office there is some question about their impartiality due to the fact that the lead investigator in the case is a very close friend of the Fullerton police chief.

Such is the concern that Shawn Nelson, a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, sent a request to the FBI asking that they conduct a separate investigation into the death which happened on July 5 in a Fullerton bus depot.

Spokesmen for the Fullerton police publicly say the department will cooperate, which shouldn’t come as a surprise; given the horrific nature of photographs of Thomas taken after his assault, resisting an investigation would make them look even worse. And that’s something they can’t afford, especially given this radio testimonial from a “friend” of Fullerton cops who says video of the altercation between police and Thomas shows officers beating and kneeing Thomas with the Taser gun while Thomas was doing “absolutely nothing.”

via Gawker

Apparently the city of Fullerton tried to settle with the homeless man’s parents for $900,000, which could have been higher according to a city official except that Thomas “wasn’t no rocket scientist”.

What follows is an extremely graphic image of Thomas in hospital where he died from the beating.