NY Stock Broker Who Nearly Died He Says In Police Hands Reaches Out To Kelly Thomas Family

June 13, 2012 - PRLog -- New York, NY - - It happened in 1998, not so recently as the Kelly Thomas  case in Fullerton, California. But, even today New York stock broker  and author Thomas Laresca is still haunted and taunted with nightmares, flashbacks on the January night years ago  he was taken into police custody for a crime he did not commit and subsequently beaten by police in Boca Raton, Florida to the point that he says nearly killed him. “They (the police) abused me and had no regard for my life…They repeatedly pepper-sprayed me while pressing down on me for about a half hour until I could no longer breathe…I screamed at the police ‘I can’t breathe…you are killing me…I blacked out, thinking  I was actually going to die.”

Mr. Laresca, who has written a book about his experience with the Florida police titled "I Want To Help: My Story About Cancer, Depression and God", is a tiny book which, as Laresca says, “is written with the sole purpose of helping others overcome any struggles they may be going through. Not that everyone will go through something as severe as I did, but I believe that most people at some time  in their lives are struggling with something”  Mr Laresca’s also talks about in his  book how he beat cancer, a deep, paralyzing depression and how his faith in God got him through all of these life threatening events.

Mr. Laresca said today to the parents of Kelly Thomas in Fullerton, California: “I am terribly sorry what has happened to your son, Kelly. No one deserves what happened to him and your family…I hope we can meet one day in person…let me know if I can help you…I pray for you” The two Fullerton police officers who allegedly beat Mr. Thomas, who died of his injuries, are scheduled to go on trial for the incident, charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and using excessive force.

For Mr. Laresca his nightmare with the Florida police all started on the evening of January 11, 1998 in Boca Raton, FL where he worked as a stock broker.  He lived in a condo where one night he says the police mistook him for an armed burglar. “I had a brutal and traumatic experience,” said Mr. Laresca, “with Palm Beach Sheriff officers...I wound up in the local hospital’s intensive care unit with some $3500 in medical bills…I feel lucky to be alive. I could easily not have made it through that night, just like Kelly Thomas did.”  Mr. Laresca was charged with resisting arrest and resisting arrest with force, he said.

Mr. Laresca, after a two to three year court battle in the Florida justice system, and spending thousands of dollars on lawyers fees to get the charges dropped against him, says he wants justice today like never before. “I had to go to court for almost two years to fight their false charges of resisting arrest and resisting arrest with force. I am not satisfied with the outcome, even though the charges were dropped against me the physical abuse that led to me being put into intensive care I have never forgotten. I have still been unable to have the police questioned concerning how I being a very healthy man the night of the occurrence wound up in intensive care. I hired and fired four different lawyers all because they were unable to question any of the officers. I was put in jail for five days and I wanted to sue the police but I was told I had to fight my charges first, then after the two years it took to have my charges dropped I was told it was too late to sue the police…how convenient for them”

In his new book Mr. Laresca says he wants to emphasize “the brutality and callousness of what those men ( the police)  did to me physically and mentally…They held me down and I could not breathe…I went unconscious…I  believe I was even ‘dead’ for a few minutes and miraculously came back. I am lucky to be alive today”. Currently working as a foreign stock trader in New York, Mr. Laresca attended college at St. John's University. His book "I Want To Help: My Story About Cancer, Depression and God" is available for purchase on www.amazon.com. Mr Laresca is preparing a web site for his book and other victims at http://iwanttohelp1225.com/