Fullerton Looks to Outside Consultant to Review Police Beating

Fullerton - The Fullerton City Council instructed its attorneys today to negotiate a contract with an outside consultant to conduct an independent review of the arrest of a mentally ill homeless man who died following a struggle with six police officers.

The council will likely vote Tuesday on a contract to hire Michael Gennaco, the head of the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review, a civilian oversight committee formed in 2001 by the Board of Supervisors to monitor the Sheriff's Department.

Gennaco has also headed the civil rights section of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, overseeing investigations of police misconduct and hate crime cases.

Fullerton police Capt. Kevin Hamilton, who is serving as interim police chief while Chief Michael Sellers is on medical leave, said he supported the hiring of Gennaco to review not only the beating of homeless man Kelly Thomas, but the department as a whole.

"I'm very happy," Hamilton told reporters outside City Hall.

Gennaco "has very serious credentials," Hamilton said. "I'll be working very closely with him ... and we're going to accommodate him in every way possible."

Gennaco told City News Service he would be an independent contractor for the Fullerton review and does not yet know how long his Pasadena-based OIR Group would take to complete it.

In effect, Gennaco will conduct the city's internal affairs investigation as the department would normally do, but he will also take a broader look at the department to make other recommendations on improvements.

If hired Tuesday, Gennaco said he will begin with a broader review of issues such as how the department can improve on handling encounters with mentally ill people, because he does not want to interfere with the Orange County District Attorney's investigation into the Thomas beating, the consultant said.

"So much is dictated by the Orange County District Attorney's Office," Gennaco said.

Once Orange County prosecutors finish their review then Gennaco will have a more focused idea on what happened, he said.

"My initial take is it's tragic and it struck a nerve with the community," Gennaco said.

Although many in the community are pushing for a video of the arrest to be released, Gennaco said it has limited value.

"The video itself will almost never tell the whole story," Gennaco said, adding that witness accounts are just as important.

Gennaco said his "ballpark" estimate of what the review would cost was between $50,000 to $70,000.

The six officers involved in Thomas' arrest have been placed on paid administrative leave. Responding to a report of a man trying to break into vehicles at the Metrolink station parking lot, they struggled with Thomas as they tried to arrest him on suspicion of possessing stolen goods on July 5. The 37-year-old Thomas, the son of a former Orange County sheriff's deputy, was taken off life-support and died five days later.

Thomas' parents, Fred and Cathy Thomas, filed a claim against the city Thursday, a precursor to a lawsuit. They are alleging excessive force in the arrest of their son at the Fullerton Transportation Center.

The claim alleges their 145-pound son was on a bench at the transportation center when six police officers "used excessive and deadly force" against him "without justification and acting under color of law."

The claim further alleges the officers "in unison severely beat (Thomas) with their fists and with objects and subjected (Thomas) to excessive applications of Taser electricity and to numerous forms of excessive and deadly force under circumstances in which (Thomas) was subdued and restrained and represented no threat of harm to the Fullerton police officers, causing the death (of Thomas)."

The claim does not state a dollar figure, but says it should be "in an amount that would place it within the unlimited jurisdiction of the Superior Court."

Meanwhile, Chris Thompson, a member of the Fullerton School District board, said he and other local activists filed a notice of intent to recall Fullerton Mayor F. Richard Jones and Councilmen Don Bankhead and Pat McKinley.

McKinley was the police chief before Sellers and Bankhead is a retired police captain.

Thompson said he and his supporters had multiple reasons for seeking the recall, but chief among them was the way the council members have reacted to Thomas' death.

Thompson accused the three of "circling the wagons" as well as a "lack of transparency" since the July 5 beating.

The recall effort will not target council members Sharon Quirk-Silva and Bruce Whitaker, both of whom have called on Sellers to resign, Thompson said.

City Attorney Richard D. Jones said city officials cannot release a video of the Thomas beating because Orange County prosecutors want it kept private during their investigation.

City officials are further restricted in how they can comment now that Thomas' parents have filed a claim against the city, he added.