May 30th 2024.
In a recent case that has shocked the community, a man in California was wrongfully accused and forced to confess to a murder that never even occurred. The city of Fontana has now agreed to pay close to a million dollars to the victim, Thomas Perez Jr., after he filed a federal lawsuit against them.
According to reports from The Los Angeles Times, Perez was falsely accused by police of killing his own father, who was actually alive and well and visiting his daughter in Northern California at the time. This troubling incident took place in August of 2018, when Perez initially reported his father missing to the authorities.
Despite his denials, the police continued to interrogate Perez for a grueling 17 hours, using manipulative and coercive tactics to make him confess. At one point, they even went as far as threatening to euthanize his beloved dog, claiming it was a stray. They even brought the dog into the room so that Perez could say goodbye, causing him even more distress.
In the end, Perez, who suffers from depression and other mental disorders, was pushed to his breaking point. The officers did not give him his medication during the interrogation, and he eventually tore out his hair and ripped open his shirt in a fit of despair. When the officers left him alone in the room, he attempted to hang himself with his shoestrings.
After 16 hours in custody, Perez finally gave in and confessed to the crime, which he did not commit. The police then took him to a dirt lot and asked him to search for his father's body, even telling him that it was already in the morgue. All of this was recorded on video, and one officer can be heard saying, "You murdered your dad. Daddy's dead because of you."
However, it was later revealed that Perez's father had simply left their home to stay at a friend's house that night before catching a flight from Los Angeles International Airport. When the police found out that he was alive, they did not inform Perez but instead placed him under a psychiatric hold.
Perez's attorney, Jerry L. Steering, who has been practicing law for 40 years, was appalled by the officers' behavior, calling it "deliberate cruelty." He stated, "After what I saw on the video of what they did to him, I now know that the police can get anyone to confess to killing Abe Lincoln." The lawsuit was filed against the city of Fontana and several police officers involved in the case.
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