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Cop Who Beat Kelly Thomas Attacked Disabled Man Weeks Prior, Claims Lawsuit
Ramos' mugshot (Courtesy OC DA)
Fullerton Police Officer Manuel Ramos may have taken out some of the aggression he's accused of demonstrating on beating victim Kelly Thomas on a disabled man just three weeks prior to the Thomas incident.A lawsuit filed recently in Orange County Superior Court against the FPD and Ramos indicates that the officer may have hassled and physically assaulted a disabled man in a grocery store parking lot, according to the OC Weekly.
The complainant, 58-year-old Mark Edwin Walker, "said that he stopped at an Albertsons in Fullerton on the evening of June 21 to fill a pharmacy prescription. When he left the store, Ramos approached and searched him without stating a reason, according to the lawsuit," reports the OC Weekly.
Waker claims he asked Ramos why he was giving him a hard time, and that rather than offer a verbal reply, Ramos picked him up, slammed him to the ground and trod on his hand. As a result, Walker says he sustained a fractured hand.
Ramos allegedly told Walker to "fucking shut up" when the man complained of being hurt. Following the alleged beatdown, Ramos took Walker into custody on charges of public intoxication, and, once released a few hours later, forced him to walk back to his vehicle at the grocery store parking lot--almost four miles away from the jail.
While a judge dismissed the charges against Walker, his lawsuit has been assigned to a judge, though Ramos and his legal team have not responded yet.
Ramos is facing trial for his role in Thomas' death. His lawyer attests Ramos committed no crime because Thomas was non-compliant.
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