A horrifying video of a compliant homeless man and an abusive police officer.
Can the video prove that there was premeditation on the police officers part before he beat Kelly Thomas to death?
Trigger Warning:
The lawyers defending the assaulting officer are trying to place the blame for Kelly Thomas' death on the medics. Medical evidence shows the police were entirely responsible for his condition when the coroners report is addressed.
But Lekawa, the chief trauma surgeon at UCI -- where Thomas was later transfered -- said records did not show such a problem.
"They did everything right," he testified.
A coroner's report found that Kelly had suffered mechanical compression –- pressure on the body leading to a lack of oxygen and eventual brain death.
Officer Manuel Ramos and Cpl. Jay Cicinelli are charged in Kelly’s death -– Ramos with second-degree murder and Cicinelli with involuntary manslaughter. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The surgeon said he was not initially aware of the officers' actions in the field but once he saw what had occurred he understood how Thomas could have sustained enough compression by the weight of the officers that it caused a lack of oxygen to the brain.