An Acceptable Level of Violence ~ Officers involved in Kelly Thomas Beating Acquitted

Only a few weeks ago in Iceland a whole nation was in mourning over the death of one of her citizens; this citizen was a mentally ill, armed individual who was killed by police in what Iceland identifies as their first shooting by police. Not the first police shooting of the year mind you, no…the first police shooting in their nation’s history. Now, as an American this probably sounds quite extraordinary, almost somewhat unbelievable to imagine that somewhere exist a place where police violence or any violence, is so infrequent, but it does exist along with quite a few other developed nations where the occurrence of violence is significantly lower than in the United States, where police are known to use a firearms resulting in the death of approximately 1,600 US citizens a year.

Today in Orange County, California two of the three officers charged in connection with the Kelly Thomas beating death were acquitted of all charges. The third officer will no longer face charges. Not Guilty….not considered culpable on any level for contributing to the death of Kelly Thomas, a mentally ill, homeless man who was severely beaten into a coma by Fullerton police officers in 2011, and died five days after the beating.

On the video of the beating Thomas could be seen on the ground crying out for his father nearly 30 times, apologizing and begging for air.

Back in Iceland, the officers involved in the shooting of a mentally ill Icelander go to the victim’s family to apologize and offer condolences for their loss even though the shooting was justified. When ask why, the officers replied that anytime a life is taken we should be remorseful.

On the evening News in Los Angeles, Defense attorney for the officers being tried in Kelly Thomas beating death, John Bennett makes a statement declaring the officers were “ …just doing their job, doing what they are trained to do, the officers were working...”  

Officers Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli were charged with striking Kelly Thomas with a baton and a stun gun in a beating that left him comatose. He died five days later.

It was an unprecedented headline in Iceland – man shot by police. The entire nation mourned the loss of a fellow citizen. "The nation was in shock. This does not happen in our country," said Thora Arnorsdottir, news editor at RUV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. 

Fifteen or Twenty peopled gathered at the site of Kelly Thomas’ beating today after hearing the “not guilty” verdict for officers charged with Thomas’ death.

 Officer Ramos can be seen on the surveillance video putting on gloves and shaking his fist in Thomas' face.

The questions that need to be answered are, why is America accepting this level of violence in our society? Why are our courts, our judges, our laws, and our jury of peers dismissing violence for less then what it is? Have we become so desensitized that we can longer make reasonable judgment of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable for an orderly society?

Sadly, the Kelly Thomas’ of our world are not an isolated incident. Police brutality, as well as general violence is on the rise across this country. Mass shootings have tripled in the last decade, and gun violence is at its highest. America is living in a conditioned state of fear that is breeding more and more violence. We seem to have forgotten how to connect with one another.  Our high tech lives, with our Iphones, Ipads, and Ipods, have left us sterile to the human experience. Almost everything we do experience is delivered through the filter of technology. The unbalance of human connection has consequences, some already in play.

“You can't talk about f--king in America, people say you're dirty. But if you talk about killing somebody, that's cool.”  ~Richard Pryor

We accept this level of violence, and therefore it becomes common and no longer warrants the appropriate response which should be more in line with the Icelander’s response to violence.

 “Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Kelly Thomas was a homeless, schizophrenic, and some place blame on his condition of mental illness as the defining cause in his death, rather than his assault, but I say maybe its America that is mentally unhealthy. Maybe we, the ones on the opposite side of Kelly Thomas in life are in fact also emotionally and mentally suffering from the anxiety of violence, neglect, and disconnect.

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” ― Mother Teresa

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