Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
The trial of two police officers for the beating death of a 37-year-old homeless man continues.
According to his family, Kelly Thomas was diagnosed with schizophrenia and the prosecuting attorney say the police killed a "harmless" homeless man. Defense attorneys say Thomas was combative and the officer's actions did not violate any laws.
This is certainly not the first instance where authorities have clashed with a mentally ill homeless person.
For more on the challenges of dealing with the mentally ill homeless, we turn now to Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing for The National Coalition for the Homeless for some answers.