Even though Fullerton stopped paying Cpl. Jay Cicinelli on Oct. 8 — three months after he and other Fullerton cops beat Kelly Thomas to death — he's still getting a fatty pension paycheck.
And, today's vote by the board that oversees cop pensions in LA, ensured that that's not gonna change anytime soon.
While on duty for the Los Angeles Police Department in 1996, Cicinelli was shot in the eye. He retired and took a disability pension. Since it was assumed that he could no longer work as a police officer, he got paid 70 percent of his salary, or about $40,000 a year, according to a Los Angeles Times story by Abby Sewell.
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Cicinelli was eventually hired by the Fullerton Police Department, however, and his pay there maxed out at $88,544.
At that point, the board in LA could have reduced his disability pension. But, some things fell through the cracks, and they never heard about Cicinelli again. Not until this summer, that is, when his name was plastered in headlines worldwide for his role in Thomas' beating death. Pension department staffers then asked the board whether they could review Cicinelli's payout.
So, today's vote wasn't on whether to decrease Cicinelli's pay, but rather on whether the pension department could even look into the idea. Their vote was split 5-3, Sewell writes, adding that Cicinelli's father made an “emotional appeal” to the board members before the vote.
Ron Thomas, Kelly's father, told the Weekly he thought the board's decision was “ludicrous.”
“They need to look into it. Looking into it is not an accusation,” Thomas says, adding that he's not ready to give up yet. “I'm gonna throw it right back down their throats and say, 'No, investigate this.'”
