Thomas ‘Gravely’ Psychologically Disabled

A man who had been fatally injured in the confrontation with Fullerton law enforcement had such severe psychological illness that county authorities repeatedly described him as "gravely disabled" because they sought to have him or her committed, records show.

Kelly Thomas, thirty seven, spent months in psychiatric centers, a ward of Lemon County, the records display. He was diagnosed along with paranoid schizophrenia – an illness that warps reality when you have it – and had been unable or unwilling to find treatment himself, the information show.

Police say Thomas battled when officers tried to find him while investigating theft reports last month, also it took six officers in order to subdue him. A cell-phone video captured the clicking of the Taser and Thomas sobbing out for his dad.

Thomas suffered severe mind and neck injuries and was removed life support five times later. A photograph associated with his face, disfigured along with blood and bruises, has drawn national focus on his death. The six officers happen to be put on administrative depart.

The National Alliance upon Mental Illness on Fri called on Fullerton to attempt a "comprehensive review" associated with how its police connect to people who exhibit indicators of serious mental sickness. "All persons whose lives happen to be affected by mental illness realize that such a tragedy might happen to any one people or our loved types, " the group said inside a statement.

Thomas' family has described him like a gentle man, a drifter who preferred to reside on the streets and who shied from personal contact. "He couldn't function" without his medicines, his father Ron stated. "I mean, he grew to become childlike. "

Kelly Thomas includes a record of petty run-ins using the law: trespassing, obstructing companies, unlawful camping. But it had been his first conviction – their only felony – that brought him towards the attention of the region.

In 1995, Thomas pleaded guilty to assault having a deadly weapon after he or she hit his grandfather within the head with a fire place poker, court records display. He was sentenced to many months in jail.

Thomas had a brief history of using drugs, based on a subsequent probation statement written in 1996. He "does not appear to comprehend or express themself well... appears incapable of even the standard functioning on a day-to-day living, " the report mentioned.

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