Thread by @SamTLevin

An extraordinary case of police "psychological torture" in Fontana, CA: When Thomas Perez reported his elderly father missing, cops brought him in for a 17-hour interrogation + coerced him to falsely confess killing his dad.

His dad was alive.

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theguardian.com/us-news/articl…

Thomas Perez's dad abruptly left their house Aug 7 2018 + didn't return. The next day, he reported his dad missing to Fontana PD. The cop who spoke to him deemed him "suspicious" + “distracted + unconcerned with his father’s disappearance.” The police asked him in for questioning

As they questioned Perez, police got warrants to go through their house. Police claimed they found "bloodstains" and that a police dog smelled the scent of a corpse. Jerry Steering, Perez’s lawyer, said there was no blood and shared w/ me this photo police provided of a "stain."

At one point, 2 cops took Perez on a drive to different locations “purportedly to investigate his father’s disappearance," a judge wrote. They berated him, insisting he killed his dad and didn't remember + told him he didn't need his medication as Perez begged for medical help.

“Where can you take us to show where Daddy is?” one cop said. “We’re not going to go to the hospital, because that’s not going to help you,” said another.

They returned to station where he faced 8+ hrs of continued interrogation. Judge said it was likely "psychological torture."

Video of the interrogation is horrifying. At one point, he started pulling out his hair, hitting himself and tearing off his shirt, nearly falling to the floor, at which point the officers laughed at him, a judge summarized. He is in clear physical and emotional turmoil.

Police also brought in his dog to the interrogation room and then suggested they'd have to euthanize the dog because of what he had done. They said his dog had witnessed the murder and walked through blood and was "depressed." Perez at one point collapsed and held his dog.

The cops said: “You know you killed him. You’re not being honest with yourself…How can you sit there + say you don’t know what happened + your dog is sitting looking at you, knowing you killed your dad? Look at your dog. She knows, because she was walking through all the blood"

At some point, police lied and said his father's body was found + in the morgue and he had been stabbed + that they had evidence he did it. Perez eventually broke down and confessed, and he was left in the interrogation room alone where video captured him attempting self harm.

Police, of course, had no evidence, but they put him on an involuntary psychiatric hold, forcing him in a hospital. At this point, cops get a call from his sister – his father is alive + well, he'd gone to a friend's house + was now at the airport on his way to visit his sister.

Police, however, don't tell Perez his dad is found and OK, according to his lawyers. Instead, they keep him locked up in psychiatric facility for three days, believing his father is dead, that he has falsely confessed to it, and that his dog has also been euthanized.

Eventually, he goes home and, his lawyers say, is able to locate his microchipped dog, who police dropped off at a pound. His lawyers say he was diagnosed with severe PTSD.

A judge said: Perez was “sleep deprived, mentally ill, and, significantly, undergoing symptoms of withdrawal from his psychiatric medications.”

“He was berated, worn down, and pressured into a false confession after 17 hours of questioning."

The judge further said the officers berated him for hours "with full awareness of his compromised mental and physical state and need for his medications." "Their conduct impacted Perez so greatly that he falsely confessed to murdering his father + attempted to commit suicide"

"A reasonable juror could conclude that [the officers] inflicted unconstitutional psychological torture on Perez," the judge wrote in a summary.

Fontana recently agreed to pay Thomas Perez $898,000 to settle the case, which was heading to trial this year.

Fontana police, the city + their lawyers have not yet responded to requests for comment. Perez's lawyer says he is not aware of any officers facing discipline as a result of this case.

FULL STORY: theguardian.com/us-news/articl…

First reported by @TonySaavedra2 of Southern California News Group / Orange County Register!

ocregister.com/2024/05/23/fon…