UPDATE, OCT., 14 5:25 P.M.: The Weekly has learned that the Dino Skokos is the name of the Fullerton College campus safety officer at the center of a viral video (We thought it might be officer Shove 'n Stuff!). The college confirmed that they have an employee by Skokos' name. According to North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD) meeting minutes, Skokos was hired at Fullerton College back in 2013. (We don't know if he listed 'handlebar mustache aggression' on the job skills part of his resume).
But the REAL fun is trolling Skokos' Facebook page, a typical law-and-order Republican circle jerk of shared memes, including the following tired out 'Obama is a Muslim' routine. Stay classy, FC!
ORIGINAL POST: OCT. 14, 12:52 P.M.: What started as a simple encounter between a Fullerton College campus safety officer and a young man has turned into the latest excessive force viral video. The officer approached the man yesterday afternoon at a campus hangout around 2:45 p.m. and asked for identification after telling him to put out his cigarette. The 22-year-old going by “Luis,” wasn't a student and asked why he had to show ID. Things took a turn for the testosterone, next.
“I cannot verify who you are,” the campus safety officer said to Luis while a student took cellphone video. “I'll just hook you up, I can do that!” He hastily reached for his handcuffs, grabbed the young man and slammed his back against a brick post. “He didn't even do nothing!” students protested. “Don't touch him, bro!”
“We were just chilling at the gazebo,” says “Wisdom Juice,” an artist and Fullerton College student whose video is now viral. “The video I took pretty much speaks for itself.”
Roll the tape!
“There's no need for all of this,” Luis cried out while on the ground. “I am not resisting!” His friends looked on vouching that Luis hadn't even been in a fist fight before. Three additional campus police arrived on scene to assist in detaining him as the cellphone video abruptly ended. Another student's video (embedded below) picks up where Wisdom Juice left off. Luis can be heard yelling “I can't breathe! I can't breathe!” from on the ground.
“They just gave him a ticket and let him go,” says Wisdom Juice who also took pictures of his friend's scratched up back. “It didn't have to go that far,” Luis tells the Weekly. “He should have just told me to leave and that would have been the end of it. If I was being rude or combative everything would have been understandable, but that's not how it happened. Unfortunately this is the world that we live in.”
Fullerton police arrived later and issued Luis a ticket for smoking within 50 feet of a campus building and let him go. Luis hasn't been contacted by the college but plans to go there next week to talk about the campus safety officer in question. “If this is how he's going to react when someone is smoking a cigarette, he shouldn't be working there,” Luis says.
Fullerton College wasted little time in addressing the video with President Greg Schulz releasing a public memo this morning. “The campus safety officer is being placed on a leave of absence while we work to answer all questions related to this incident,” it reads. “Videos circulating on social media raise many questions. The videos are partial records of the incident and we are working to fully investigate the interaction.”
President Schulz wrote that no further comment could be made on the personnel matter, only adding that he remained committed to making Fullerton College “a welcoming and safe place.”
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!