Facts

On the evening of August 7, 2018, Thomas Perez, Sr. took a walk with the family dog. The dog returned to the family home in Fontana, California, but Thomas Perez, Sr. didn't. Concerned about his elderly father not coming home, Perez's son, plaintiff Thomas Perez, Jr., made a missing person report to the Fontana Police Department. He told Fontana PD that his father may have gone to a friend's house that evening, but he didn't know who she was or where she lived.

Two officers went to Plaintiff's home, and he voluntarily agreed to accompany the officers to the station to provide information. However, because the Perez home was in disarray from repair work on the home, and because Thomas Perez, Sr. had left his cell phone and wallet at the home, the Fontana police became suspicious that the father was missing due to foul play. During the search, the police claimed visible bloodstains existed and that a K-9 unit alerted them to the odor of human remains, both of which Plaintiff contends were fabricated.

The Fontana police officers badgered Perez, Jr. for hours, pressuring him to confess to killing his father, despite not knowing whether he was injured, dead, or alive. They convinced Perez, Jr. that he did not recall killing his father because traumatic situations lead to memory suppression.

After 10 hours of intense custodial interrogation, the detectives told Thomas Perez, Jr. that: they had located his father; he had been murdered and was in the morgue with stab wounds and a toe tag; they had overwhelming evidence that Plaintiff was the murderer; and it was time to confess. The detectives also brought the family dog to the police station and informed Perez, Jr. that he would go to prison for life and that his dog would be euthanized. Perez, Jr. was in shock and so severely traumatized that when they left him alone in the interrogation room, he tried to hang himself with his shoelaces.

Eventually, after 16 hours of intense interrogation, Thomas Perez, Jr. produced a false confession. In reality, Thomas Perez, Sr. had indeed walked to the Fontana train station and taken the train to Alhambra, California, to visit his friend.

After 17 hours of interrogation, the Fontana detectives received a phone call from Plaintiff's sister telling them that their father was fine; that she had purchased an airline ticket for her father; and that he was at LAX airport waiting to board an airplane to travel to Northern California to visit her.

After the Fontana detectives learned that Thomas Perez, Sr. was alive and well, rather than tell Plaintiff that his father was alive, they took him to the hospital for a Civil Protective Custody 72-hour ("5150 psych") hold, and told the hospital that he was suicidal. The Fontana police also told the hospital that he was still in police custody and that no one was permitted to contact him.

Accordingly, for the next three days, Thomas Perez, Jr. was confined on a 5150-psych hold in the hospital without knowing that his father was alive and well, believing that his father had been murdered, that his dog was going to be euthanized, and that he was going to prison for life for murdering his father.

On August 23, 2019, Perez Jr. filed a complaint in federal court against the City of Fontana and others for civil rights violations.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff contended that defendants psychologically tortured him to obtain a false confession. According to plaintiff, defendants continually accused him of murdering his father even though plaintiff had repeatedly, consistently, and insistently stated that he had not. At one point, he asked for his prescribed medications (including for high blood pressure and asthma) and told defendants that he felt unwell, yet the interrogation continued. Defendants also towed and impounded plaintiff's two vehicles and seized plaintiff's friendly Labrador retriever dog who they sent to the animal shelter to be euthanized.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendants denied all material allegations.

Result

The case settled for just under $900,000.