A large crowd packed the Fullerton City Council chambers late Tuesday to hear from an independent investigator who was hired to look into the controversial death of Thomas.
The independent consultant Michael Gennaco is the chief attorney for the L.A. County Office of Independent Review, a civilian police-oversight group.
"OIR group recommends that the controversy surrounding this issue be used by the department and the city as a stark reminder of the need to: One, get the information right; Two, if there is a felt need to produce information immediately, expressly alert the public about the tentative nature of the information; and finally, if it turns out the initial information is inaccurate, to disseminate corrections or clarifications quickly and broadly," said Gennaco.
Tuesday's report was to be the first of two reports of an independent investigation into the incident. Thomas died last July after being severely beaten in a parking lot.
The first report only covers the investigation into specific questions related to public statements made by the Fullerton Police Department following the incident.
The second report, which will go into the overall police department's procedures, is expected to be presented to the City Council in late March or April.
Fullerton Officer Manuel Ramos and Cpl. Jay Cicinelli are facing charges in Thomas' death. The police chief retired this past weekend after taking months of medical leave.
Activists collected the required 10,000 signatures to force a vote on a recall of council members F. Dick Jones, Don Bankhead and Pat McKinley.
