Second Black Man Having Mental Health Crisis Murdered by Southern California Police in Less Than a Week
October 3, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
Candlelight vigil for Reginald Thomas at Pasadena City Hall, September 30, 2016. (Photo: Walt Mancini/The Pasadena Star-News via AP)
Just three days after El Cajon cops murdered Alfred Olango, a Black man having a mental health crisis, Pasadena cops murdered Reginald Thomas, another Black man struggling with mental illness, early Friday morning, September 30.
This outrageous murder is similar to the murder of Olango. Both men were having a mental breakdown episode, and 911 was called for help. The help they got was a death warrant delivered and executed by the brutal, murdering cops who answered the plea for help.
When the cops arrived at the residence of Reginald Thomas, a 36-year-old father of eight, Thomas had a fire extinguisher and a knife in his hands. The cops tased Thomas twice and then, according to Thomas’ partner, Shainie Lindsay, who has four children with Thomas and is pregnant with their fifth, the cops beat him with their batons and kicked him. Lindsay tearfully told KTLA News that “They was wrestling with him, was kicking him in the head and beating him with the baton stick. Then, after that, they was doing CPR and then he was dead.” She said, “He called the police on himself.” Lindsay said that he was bipolar and was ‘dysfunctional’ and ‘out of it’ at the time. “He was a good father,” she said, and “he just wanted help.”
Residents of the neighborhood took to the streets and sidewalk this morning (September 29) around the Thomas-Lindsay residence demanding to see the video and shouting at the cops. One man angrily shouted out, “Stop sacrificing Black men.” As I’m writing this, the local news is showing several dozen protesters, Black and white, out in the street, protesting the murder of Reginald Thomas.
How many more are going to be murdered before we put an end to this horrendous system? This shit has got to stop right now and people need to be out in the streets and learning about becoming a part of this revolution when the Revolution Club is on the scene.
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