The arraignment for two Fullerton police officers charged with homicide in the beating death of a homeless man last summer was delayed Tuesday for two weeks after a defense attorney contended he had reviewed a newly identified audio recording that put the encounter "in a completely different light."
Barnett said in the recording Ramos tells Thomas, 37, "we don't want to take you to jail, just tell us your name," but that Thomas does not comply and instead directs profanity at the officers.
"This is the run-up, the prelude" to escalating tension that resulted in Thomas being taken to the ground by several Fullerton police officers, where he was beaten and choked, sustaining injuries that left to his death, Barnett said.
Barnett contends the newly reviewed audio recording shows that Ramos was a good policeman "who got along with the homeless and they got along with him" and that Ramos did not have a vendetta toward the homeless.
