Former Fullerton cop Manuel Ramos was outed last week as a PONY League coach in the city, but apparently he's not alone. Jay Cicinelli, Ramos' fellow FPD-er who, in his own words, took the face of Kelly Thomas one July night in 2011 and “just smashed it to hell,” is also coaching youth baseball–in La Mirada.
The thought of Cicinelli serving as a role model to kids through sports was just too much for one member of Kelly's Army. Richard Dwyer decided to head out to La Mirada Little League's Opening Day this weekend to snap a pic of the killer cop himself.
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All the Little League teams gathered on Saturday Sunday at Behringer Park in La Mirada reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and engaging in other ceremonial activities. Cicinelli was spotted away from kids as Dwyer walked up to take a picture with his cellphone. “He was sporting a beard,” the Fullerton activist recounts. Gone was the clean-shaven look Cicinelli had during the Kelly Thomas murder trial–legal proceedings that bothered him so little that he partied it up at Knott's Berry Farm while facing involuntary manslaughter and excessive force charges.
“Hey, you can't take my picture!” Cicinelli said, according to Dwyer. The activist countered by replying it was a public space.
Being it was opening day, La Mirada Little League board members were on the field, too. One vouched for Cicinelli to Dwyer, saying that he has been coaching for eight years without incident. Another board member was less generous, kicking Dwyer off the field. He left voluntarily, but was followed all the way. “He just put the cold shoulder on and stared at me as if I was going to be a problem,” the activist says. With that, Dwyer left, already having what he came for.
Like Mike Silva of Fullerton PONY League, the Weekly reached out to La Mirada Little League President Aaron Abler for comment about having an ex-Fullerton killer cop in the dugout. Like Silva, as of press time, we haven't received a response.
No word yet either on Cicinelli's coaching style. What does he tell youngsters who lay off a pitch outside the strike zone? Good eye?
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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!