Facts

Skip Torrance alleges that he was sleeping in his bed when two dark silhouettes standing next to his bed yanked him and ordered him to get up and have a talk with them or they would tase him. When he got up to turn on a light switch, the two men allegedly grabbed him and stunned him with a taser, causing him to fall to the floor. He thought he was "going to be raped and robbed." When he came to, he saw the persons in his room were actually deputies of the Orange County Sheriff's Dept.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department asserts that they were lawfully on Torrance's premises investigating him for possible involvement in a fight that had occurred earlier that evening in the City of Laguna Beach. When he was unresponsive to their calls from outside, they entered his residence to perform a welfare check on him. At that time, Torrance leaped out of bed and lunged at the deputies, who responded with a taser to get him under control.

The deputies were dispatched to Torrance's house based on the investigations of the Laguna Beach Police Dept., which had been told by an eyewitness that Mr. Torrance was involved in the fight in Laguna Beach that evening. Torrance denied involvement in the fight, and was detained in his home where victims were brought in to see him. The victims did not identify Torrance as the man involved in the fight. However, the Orange County Sheriff's deputies arrested Torrance based on his conduct when they entered his residence. Torrance alleges that he was a victim of mistaken identity.

Orange County prosecutors declined to charge Torrance with any criminal charges. Torrance was a commercial banker with no criminal record. He sued the Orange County Sheriff's Dept. and Laguna Beach Police Dept. for excessive use of force and wrongful arrest.

Result

The County of Orange paid Torrance $300,000 for the deputies' actions, while the City of Laguna Beach contributed $80,000 to the settlement.