John C. Taylor

The firm Taylor co-founded in 2002 focuses on major lawsuits for crime victim clients and their families and other personal injury plaintiffs. Taylor and law partner David M. Ring also pursue organizations accused of ignoring or enabling sexual abuse.

“We’re there to litigate and protect,” Taylor said.

In March 2021 he persuaded a federal judge to remove a protective order that had kept secret Fresno police body camera footage capturing the death of Joseph Perez, whose surviving family members are Taylor’s clients in a major wrongful death suit. Perez v. City of Fresno, County of Fresno and American Ambulance, 1:18-cv-00127 (E.D. Cal., filed Jan. 23, 2018).

Perez, who was unarmed, died in May 2017 after police handcuffed him. “Law enforcement placed him face down down on the ground,” Taylor said, describing the video. “They and paramedics decide to place an ambulance backboard on him and they sit on it. For 15 minutes you can hear him yelling for his father and saying that he can’t breathe.” The coroner ruled Perez’ death a homicide.

The protective order was in place as discovery began in the case. “Then, after George Floyd’s death, we took the position that amid the local and national dialog over police killings the body camera footage shouldn’t be kept confidential,” Taylor said. Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii of Fresno ordered the footage be made public.

“The judge agreed with us that Mr. Perez’ killing reflected national concerns about police tactics, and if the family wanted it out, it should be out,” Taylor said. “I think the defense realized how bad and inflammatory it is. They released it as part of a slick video presentation focused on Mr. Perez’ drug use and history and a lot of talk about how large he was—making him the focus of their narrative. We had a press conference an hour later and just ran the video start to finish.”

Taylor said he’s seeking police reforms as part of the litigation. “I can’t imagine that a police agency would use a lifesaving device like a backboard to pin a man like an animal. He had committed no crime.” The complaint alleges that police were responding to a mid-morning call about a man talking to himself. “They said he’s wandering the street acting erratically.”

Taylor has done similar cases, including a current matter over the shooting death by sheriff’s deputies of Kurt Reinhold in Orange County in 2020. The deputies were part of a homeless outreach team. Latoya Reinhold v. County of Orange, 8:20-cv-02369 (C.D. Cal., filed Dec. 17, 2020).

“The authorities are escalating the criminalization of public space,” Taylor said. “Officers either ignore or are not trained in de-escalation policies. Then they have to come up with a scenario that makes then look okay.”

— John Roemer