A California city has agreed to pay $900,000 to a man who was subjected to a 17-hour police interrogation in which officers pressured him to falsely confess to murdering his father, who was alive.
During the 2018 interrogation of Thomas Perez Jr by police in Fontana, a city east of Los Angeles, officers suggested they would have Perez’s dog euthanized as a result of his actions, according to a complaint and footage of the encounter. A judge said the questioning appeared to be “unconstitutional psychological torture”, and the city agreed to settle Perez’s lawsuit for $898,000, his lawyer announced this week.
The extraordinary case of a coerced false confession has sparked widespread outrage, with footage showing Perez in extreme emotional and physical distress, including as officers brought his dog in and said the animal would need to be put down due to “depression” from witnessing a murder that had not actually occurred.
Remember- never talk to cops.
They are not your friends. They are not there to help, protect or otherwise serve you.
They are there solely to build a case against you, and if they can, they will charge you with anything they find.
They will lie about the law- if they even know what it actually says- lie about what they know. They will twist you up and get you to say anything.
Demand a lawyer and shut the fuck up. Do not consent to a search, do not let them inside. Do not fall for the “if you’re innocent”. demand a lawyer and shut the fuck up. You have no obligation to talk to them. you have no obligation to answer their questions.
The biggest thing to remember is that cops are allowed to lie to you! Yes, they are allowed to lie to you and trick you into confessing.