california

At least that’s what this latest movie, (Bad Ass), starring Mexican hard man Danny Trejo should’ve been called, as it’s directly in reference to the Internet sensation who was labelled Epic Beard Man by the online community back in 2010.

Just like the plot of Bad Ass Tom Bruso rose to fame after he was caught on camera engaged in an altercation with an abusive, threatening passenger on a bus in Oakland, California. For obvious reasons he became popular, with many newspapers and radio stations eager to interview him about his new found YouTube fame. Of course there’s a tragic side to this story as Bruso is now a 64 year-old Vietnam war veteran who is homeless and suffers from mental health problems.

But that of course hasn’t stopped Hollywood exploiting the man’s story to make their own movie which they say is simply ‘inspired‘ by the whole Epic Beard Man story, even though they have Trejo dressed in exactly the same clothes from the infamous bus altercation video. We can only hope that at least a small fraction of the profits from this film go to Bruso. That being said it’ll probably make couch change at the box office because it looks bloody awful.

UPDATE: According to the film’s Wikipedia page it states: ‘The producers made a deal with Thomas Bruso to acquire rights before going into production.’ Of course details of that deal are not listed.

This story is so f@cking tragic that it’s difficult to even type out the relevant information without feeling a burning rage within.

Not that we are left-wing, tree huggers but it’s evident that America has a serious problem with it’s police force, a force which now operates and functions like a potent political power accepting very little responsibility for it’s actions and rarely punishing officers who have, shall we say, taken ‘liberties’.

The premise of this story, (like so many of it’s kind in recent months), is uncomplicated, somebody in Fullerton California suspected 37-year-old homeless schizophrenic Kelly Thomas of breaking into cars at a nearby bus depot. Up to six officers attend the call and proceed to beat and tase Thomas even after he lies motionless on the ground. Thomas is finally taken to hopsital and falls into a coma and dies a week later. Five against one, five are armed with batons and tase guns and no sense of limitations.

A passer by managed to film a portion of the incident from a distance on his cell phone but you can quite clearly hear Thomas hysterically call out for his father while he is being beaten and tased by the cops. There is also very graphic picture of Thomas lying in a hospital bed, which will give you some idea of the severity of his injuries, before he died, which you can see here.

Thomas’s father a retired Orange County Sheriff, a man who spent many years in law enforcement said:

“When I first walked into the hospital, I looked at what his mother described as my son … I didn’t recognize him. This is cold-blooded, aggravated murder.”

Protests and vigils in Fullerton have been held by the local community but the general feeling is that this crime will once again go unpunished as the police officers in question maintain he was resisting arrest…with what? His face?

Epic Beard Man The Movie.

Cops In California Beat A Mentally Ill Homeless Man To Death.