A false police report set in motion the series of events that ended with half a dozen
Police have said from the beginning that they were responding to a report of a man trying to open car doors when they confronted Kelly Thomas last July. They have never publicly identified where that report came from, although rumors have long pointed to the Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Kitchen.
A laid-off bouncer at the Slidebar now claims in a lawsuit that a manager called police that evening and falsely claimed that Thomas was breaking into cars. Michael Reeves says in his suit that Thomas was really doing nothing more than picking up cigarette butts.
In a statement from its lawyer, the Slidebar described Reeves' lawsuit as "completely frivolous." The statement says that Reeves never brought up his false-report claim in sworn testimony and interviews.
Less than a dozen people showed up at the Slidebar Tuesday afternoon to protest the restaurant's alleged role in the beating death of Thomas.
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