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Fullerton has gotten a well-deserved reputation for police brutality over the past ten years, and it seems as if now even the “safety” personnel at FJC are getting into the act.
Over the weekend a video showing a Fullerton Junior College “campus safety (!) officer” physically abusing a student went viral. It caught my immediate attention because I have been a vocal critic of police brutality and also because FJC is my beloved alma mater.
Here’s the video:
As you can see the “safety officer,” an individual that has been identified as Officer Skokos, immediately flies off the handle over some infraction or other, and perhaps a show of disrespect, and choke-slams this skinny kid up against a wall. Then Skokos throws him to the ground where he and then a partner display the same sort of physical ineptness as the cops that did in Kelly Thomas.
I see at least two felonies committed here, namely: aggravated assault and false arrest. No doubt the kid, despite being the obvious victim, will be charged by our useless DA with assault at the behest of the college.
When I saw the video, my first thought was “mall cop.” But something didn’t seem right about that. The aggressive attitude, the immediate assault, the affronted attitude and the indifference to the victim’s evident pain all suggested another sort of background.
Put on a happy face!
And so I logged onto Transparent California. Lo and Behold my suspicions were immediately confirmed. Dino Skokos is an ex-cop, formerly employed as a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff. Skokos gets over $45,000 a year by way of a pension for his contributions to LA County law n’ order; plus he gets almost $74,000 a year in salary and benefits at FJC throwing slender kids around. But here’s the kicker: Mr. Skokos retired with a disability pension, meaning somebody thought this guy was injured to the point of physical incapacity of some sort.
Apparently, Mr. Skokos has been placed on the cop’s favorite duty – administrative leave – by the District, until the underpaid administrators at FJC can figure out how to sugar coat this embarrassment. In the meantime several pertinent questions remain: who selects these security personnel at the college, what is their prior history, and how does an ex-cop with a disability retirement qualify to be a cop again. You might try addressing these questions to a NOCCCD Boardmember such as Molly McClanahan to see if you can get anything like a coherent answer.
Good luck with that.
“I’ll just hook you up, I can do that!”
No, no you can’t. Every one of these former cops is a walking liability.
Smart kid to film. Hope he gets his buddy a little justice.
Well you know Rackaukas. There may be some civil court justice, but the real question is whether or not the Good As No DA, DA would pursue criminal complaint against the ex-cop, or against the victim. Video doesn’t mean squat. Remember the prosecution of Veth Mam, and the perjury of the Fullerton cops?
That kid may go to jail. The only thing he’s got going for him is that these were not real cops.
It’s interesting that the public safety officer says on video that he can hook the smoker up because he can’t identify him. What’s the over/under on the officer getting some “training” on how to not escalate a situation like the rest of us do every day in our lives.
This is a “retired” LAC deputy sheriff.
But of course you’re right. All Skokol needed was a bit of training. He’s actually sort of a victim, too.
Let’s move on.
If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t the LEO program at FJC recently suspended for inadequate certification.
Irony.
I wonder who they learned that from?