Crime & Safety
Torrance Officers ID'd in Dorner Manhunt Shooting Lawsuit
David Perdue of Redondo Beach claims the officers used excessive force when they allegedly rammed his pickup truck and fired shots at him during the manhunt for Christopher Dorner.
The names of two police officers who allegedly fired on a Redondo Beach surfer during the manhunt for ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner were revealed for the first time in an updated lawsuit filed Tuesday.
David Perdue's amended excessive force complaint, lodged in federal court in Los Angeles, states that Torrance police officers Brian McGee and Erin Sooper rammed his pickup truck with their police vehicle and fired without warning as the surfer drove to the beach before work last Feb. 7.
The city of Torrance had previously concealed the names of the officers, claiming there was an "ongoing investigation' of some kind. But at a court hearing in November, U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall ruled the city must release the names.
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None of the bullets struck Perdue, 38, who had previously been stopped and cleared by other officers, according to the lawsuit originally filed in June after he failed to reach a settlement with the city of Torrance. He is seeking unspecified damages in his lawsuit, which is set for trial in August.
Perdue says he suffered a concussion when his truck's airbag opened and has lingering physical and emotional problems as a result of what happened to him that day.
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"He now moves slowly and unsteadily," the lawsuit states. "His speech is altered. He has problems with his memory. He has nightmares."
In another case of mistaken identity during the Dorner search, two women were injured when Los Angeles police opened fire on their pickup truck in Torrance while they were delivering newspapers. They reached a $4.2 million settlement with the city.
Authorities said Dorner killed four people—a Riverside police officer, a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy and the daughter of a former LAPD captain and her fiance—during a rampage fueled by his anger over being fired from the Los Angeles force several years ago.
The disgruntled ex-cop's remains were found inside a burned-out Big Bear cabin after a shootout with law enforcement last Feb. 12, culminating a nearly week-long manhunt for the fugitive.
—City News Service.
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