Guilty Verdict in Trial of Ex-LAPD Officer Accused in Arrest of Woman Who Died

[JQPublic1]

Updated at 6:20 PM PDT on Friday, Jun 5, 2015

A guilty verdict was announced Friday in the trial of a former Los Angeles police officer charged with assault for kicking and shoving a handcuffed woman, who later died, during an arrest.

Mary O'Callaghan, 50, was convicted of assault by a public officer stemming from the July 22, 2012 arrest of 35-year-old Alesia Thomas in the 9100 block of South Broadway Avenue.

Pertinent facts concerning the death of Alesia Thomas:
NOTE: The name is Alesia or Alecia, depending on the source.

• Alesia was a Black female
• Alesia was arrested for child abandonment after she left her two children in front of a police station.
• Alesia had mental problems
• Alesia was handcuffed and her legs were restrained when she was kicked repeatedly in the groin and abdomen by O'callaghan. Subsequently, she died in the squad car.
• According to the Coroner’s inquest, Alesia had Cocaine in her system but was not listed as a contributing factor in the official death certificate.
• Media spin doctors insinuated that, unofficially, cocaine may have been a contributing factor in the death.

Obviously, the jury disagreed.

Guilty Verdict in Trial of Ex-LAPD Officer Accused in Arrest of Woman Who Died NBC Southern California

 

[JQPublic1]

UPDATE: 6 June 2015:

I have already reported on the cocaine angle that surfaced during the coroner's autopsy. It seems the cocaine factor is keeping the cop from being charged with manslaughter or murder. Prosecutors and cover each other's backs as much as possible and so a modest charge of "Assault under the color of authority" is all that female brute gets. I wonder if the DOJ should not take a look at this case and do their own autopsy. I am very suspicious of uncontested "findings" conducted on minorities by agencies who are more than likely biased and have cause to plant or fabricate "evidence."

An autopsy by the Los Angeles County coroner determined that cocaine intoxication was probably a “major factor” in Thomas’ death. It wasn't possible to determine what role, if any, the struggle with O’Callaghan or other officers who took part in the arrest played in it. The official cause of death was listed as “undetermined.”