Kelly Thomas Report Blames Officers, Ex-Chief

Situation could have been handled without deadly force. (The "obviously" is implied)

An investigator hired to probe the death of Kelly Thomas after a violent confrontation with police found that Manuel Ramos, the first officer to approach the mentally ill homeless man, "escalated a situation that, if handled professionally, could have been resolved without significant force."

"Officers found a way of transforming a casual encounter into an incident resulting in death," Michael Gennaco of the Los Angeles Office of Independent Review stated in his 53-page report. Gennaco made the report public Tuesday in front of a packed chambers at the City Council meeting.