The lights shone brightly at Duane Winters Field in Fullerton's Amerige Park earlier this week for a PONY League baseball game. Youngsters stepped up to the plate as the sound of aluminum bats thwacking baseballs rounded out what otherwise was a normal night of America's pastime…save for the killer cop in the dugout.
There stood Manuel Ramos, coaching kids in the fine art of swinging a baton at a defenseless homeless man…sorry, swinging a bat at a defenseless homeless man…sorry, coaching kids. Across the street from the baseball diamond stood his former workplace, the Fullerton Police Department.
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Returning to civilian life after a jury acquitted him and his former partner officer Jay Cicinelli in the July 5, 2011 beating death of Kelly Thomas this January has been rocky for Ramos. Last month, he tried to enjoy a night at Denny's (no word if Cicinelli has been seen eating pancakes at “Eyehop” yet!) until patrons ran him out.
At Amerige Park, the scene was calmer, with the only ruckus being raised by the sparse crowd's cheers for every hit and strikeout. The disgraced cop stood outside a dugout wearing a hat, sports jacket and sweatpants, his likeness unmistakable thanks to Ramos' trademark Thump Records mustache and fat fuck-ness.
The Weekly reached out to Mike Silva, President of Fullerton PONY baseball, for comment; after indicating he'd respond last afternoon, Silva has yet to call us back. And we'd love to talk to him, because Fullerton PONY baseball measures its success not just on raising future Mike Trouts on the field but also fostering “countless numbers of young people that become outstanding citizens and leaders in their communities.”
With Ramos? Um, yeah…
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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!