OCDA Rackaukas In The Hot Seat

Op-Ed by Cynthia Ward

Thursday afternoon I took a break from work and headed to the Civic Center in Santa Ana, to check out the public protest outside the Orange County District Attorney’s office. About 40-50 people had gathered on the sweltering hot sidewalks on both sides of Civic Center Drive, frankly a larger crowd than I expected given that A) it was hotter than Hell B) it was the middle of a work day and C) did I mention it was hotter than Hell?

The crowd was well-behaved, they took care to gather all trash as they finished water bottles or fast-food lunches, and they were careful not to block the sidewalk or bother pedestrians or bicyclists. No lynch mob here.

Holding signs and some wearing specially made t-shirts, the crowd shouted;

“Justice for Kelly!

D.A. do your job!”

And

“What do we want?

Justice!

When do we want it?

Now!”

Why the shift from the Fullerton Civic Center to the Santa Ana Civic Center? “Kelly’s Army” has become (understandably) frustrated at what seems to be the dragging of feet from the District Attorney’s office. Susan Kang Schroeder explained in a recent interview with KFI that they are unable to move more quickly, because they have yet to receive a cause of death from the Coroner, who is still waiting for toxicology results to add to the autopsy. While I would love to give the DA and the OC Sheriff/Coroner the benefit of the doubt, we already have tox screens for Amy Winehouse, and there was a lot more garbage to sift through in her blood than that of poor Kelly Thomas. The Voice of OC reports the Sheriff’s department insists they will release the information, “soon” but are not giving a definitive time table.

In answer to the DA’s claim that they do not have the answers for the death of Kelly Thomas, Ron Thomas and his lawyer have been able to put together a cause of death, based on hospital records, which oddly enough include a toxicology report showing that the hospital checked Kelly Thomas for drugs in his system, and the report was negative. Given that information, how can it take that long for the Sheriff/Coroner to get the same results?

Within the last few days Ron Thomas and his lawyer, Garo Mardirossian, have released artist’s renderings depicting Thomas’ injuries, based on medical records during Kelly’s 5 day hospitalization before being declared brain dead. Among those injuries were multiple hits to the head and face, injuries I am told are inconsistent with a lawful arrest procedure. The hospital records also show tazer injuries to the chest, despite warnings from the tazer manufacturer that it should not be used in the chest area, for fear of causing cardiac arrest, which in fact it appears did happen to Kelly Thomas.

The “Brain Death Declaration Form”, signed by the medical doctors who treated Kelly Thomas and had firsthand knowledge of his injuries, clearly states that Kelly Thomas died from brain death with all other causes excluded, including drugs, toxins, and abnormalities. So why can’t the Sheriff/Coroner and the District Attorney seem to come to the same conclusion as the patient’s own doctors?

To those who think the “cover up” charge sounds paranoid, let’s review the facts to date:

FPD initially claimed that the questioning and arrest of Kelly Thomas that night was based on a call about cars being broken into. A public records request by Friends for Fullerton’s Future shows no such call coming into FPD that night.



FPD’s Spokesman Sergeant Andrew Goodrich was caught lying about Kelly Thomas fighting officers to the point that he broke the bones of arresting officers, which immediately destroyed his credibility, and frankly should have cost him his job on the spot.

Witnesses claim that Police at the scene confiscated cell phone cameras, video, and still photo film. No mention has been made by the DA of this evidence; he and his staff only refer to the videotape as their photographic evidence. Did they ever receive the confiscated photos or cell phones?

The District Attorney refuses to release a videotape of the beating, claiming that it might taint witness statements. But the officers themselves were permitted to view the tape while writing their reports, and according to a source during a KFI interview, the Police were permitted to repeatedly rewrite their reports until they satisfied superiors.

In addition, another incident with FPD has come to light, with a young man named Veth Mam, who was arrested by Fullerton Police, and reportedly wrongfully prosecuted under false charges. Veth Mam’s claim is that a Fullerton Police Officer perjured himself on the stand while testifying against him. Some reports claim the officer involved in the perjury was also one of the officers involved in the Kelly Thomas beating. If so, how are we to take the word of this officer in the Thomas incident reports? Shockingly, our own DA had videotape that clearly showed the officer was, to be generous, “mistaken”, and Rackaukas’ office chose to pursue charges against Veth Mam anyway. Following Mam’s exhoneration of the false charges, when it came to light that the officer’s testimony was less than accurate, the DA chose not to pursue perjury charges against the officer. A Federal lawsuit is now pending regarding that little misunderstanding.

So forgive those of us who are starting to think that perhaps the DA, a man who depends on law enforcement officers for the convictions his office represents, might be stalling on filing charges against these fine upstanding officers he needs. To date Tony Rackaucus has had a pretty easy time of it during re-election campaigns. But this case is hurting his public image, and hurting it bad. Considering he just fired a very well funded young go-getter who is in hot pursuit of an elected office, I suggest Mr. Rackaucus’ Teflon political career days are over. He will be held accountable on this one…and potentially open to a challenge at the ballot box.

“Justice for Kelly!

D.A. do your job!”

Is more than just a chant on a street corner. It is want we have all been waiting for.

Ms. Ward writes for the Red County Blog