California police have agreed to pay a nearly $1 million settlement after forcing a mentally unstable man to confess by threatening to kill his dog if he did not falsely admit to killing his father, who was still very much alive. murdered.
Thomas Perez Jr. was questioned by police for more than seventeen hours in 2018 in an interrogation that amounted to “unconstitutional psychological torture,” the judge said.
Perez reported his father missing to the police. He was never formally arrested, but was taken to the Fontana Police Department for questioning on August 8, 2018.
Officers told him that if he didn’t confess to killing his father, they would have to euthanize his dog for “depression” from witnessing a murder that never happened.
After hours of interrogation, Perez became visibly upset and resorted to self-destructive acts, including pulling out his hair, hitting himself and taking off his shirt.
Officers told him that if he didn’t confess to killing his father, they would have to euthanize his dog for “depression” from witnessing a murder that never happened.
The judge said he was “sleep deprived, mentally ill and, significantly, experiencing withdrawal symptoms from his psychiatric medications.”
Perez also reportedly begged for medical help but was never given his psychiatric medication.
He was told that his father was found dead with stab wounds, but police found his father alive and well shortly afterwards. Perez’s sister said her father was with a “friend.”
A detective reportedly told him, “How can you sit there, how can you sit there and say you don’t know what happened, while your dog is sitting there looking at you, knowing that you killed your father?”
‘Look at your dog. She knows that, because she walked through all the blood.’
After seventeen hours of interrogation, Perez finally admitted to the crime he did not commit.
Perez also reportedly begged for medical help but was never given his psychiatric medication. When the two interrogating officers left Perez alone in the room, he attempted suicide by hanging up
After seventeen hours of interrogation, Perez finally admitted to the crime he did not commit
When the two interrogating officers left Perez alone in the room, he attempted suicide by hanging up.
California Judge Dolly Gee ruled last June that the evidence in the case would convince the jury that the interrogation amounted to “unconstitutional psychological torture.”
Footage of the interrogation was released, sparking outrage and a long legal battle before the city of Fontana, California, ultimately agreed to a $900,000 settlement.
His lawyer Jerry Steering told the newspaper Orange County Register, “Mentally torturing a false confession from Tom Perez, hiding from him that his father was alive and locking him in the psychiatric ward because they made him suicidal.”
“In my 40 years of denouncing police, I have never seen such a level of deliberate brutality by police,” he continued.
“This case shows that if the police are skilled enough and fire at you hard enough, they can get anyone to confess.”
The city of Fontana, California, ultimately agreed to release Thomas Perez Jr. (pictured) to pay a $900,000 settlement. Perez was questioned by police for more than seventeen hours in 2018 in an interrogation that amounted to ‘unconstitutional psychological torture’
After being forced to confess, Perez was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric ward, where he remained in isolation for three days. The police never told him that his father was found alive. For three days he sat alone in the psychiatric ward, convinced that both his father and his dog were dead
After his confession, Perez was involuntarily confined to a psychiatric ward. He was held there in isolation for three consecutive days.
Police reportedly failed to inform Perez that his father was alive. His dog was also given to a shelter but was later rescued, police said Telegraph.
For days, Perez sat alone in the psychiatric ward, convinced that both his father and his dog were dead.
The police cannot yet say whether the police officers involved will receive repercussions.