Thomas Perez during his 17-hour interrogation by Fontana police in California in 2018. (Fontana police footage released by attorney Jerry Steering)

A California city has agreed to compensate a man with $900,000 following a 17-hour police interrogation where officers coerced him into falsely confessing to the murder of his father, who was actually alive.

During the 2018 interrogation of Thomas Perez Jr. by Fontana police, located east of Los Angeles, officers said they would euthanize Perez’s dog due to his alleged actions, as outlined in a complaint and video footage of the incident.

A judge deemed the interrogation to constitute "unconstitutional psychological torture," prompting the city to settle Perez’s lawsuit for $898,000, as announced by his attorney this week.

The shocking case of the coerced false confession has ignited widespread outrage, as footage showed that Perez was under extreme emotional and physical distress. This included officers bringing in his dog and implying that the animal would be euthanized due to "depression" from witnessing a murder that had not occurred.

The incident unfolded on the evening of August 7, 2018, when Thomas Perez Jr’s father, Thomas Perez Sr, with whom he resided, left the house with their dog to retrieve the mail, as outlined in a summary of the case by Dolly Gee, a federal judge. While the dog returned shortly after, Perez Sr did not; consequently, his son reported him missing to the police the following day.

Perez verbally abused during investigation

Perez Jr. endured hours of initial questioning while officers obtained further search warrants to access seized devices. At one juncture, two officers removed Perez from the station and drove him to various locations under the guise of investigating his father's disappearance, as detailed by the judge. Throughout, the officers verbally abused him, alleging he had murdered his father and forgotten it, and disregarded his pleas for medical assistance, even as Perez begged for it.

During the interrogation, Perez Jr began exhibiting signs of extreme distress, including pulling out his hair, hitting himself, and tearing off his shirt, nearly collapsing to the floor, as summarized by the judge. At this point, the officers laughed at him. The footage depicted him lying on the floor at one stage, holding onto his dog. Additionally, officers threatened Perez with a $1 million restitution charge if he didn't lead them to his father's body.

Subsequently, detectives falsely informed Perez that his father's body had been found, allegedly with stab wounds, prompting Perez to falsely confess. After this, he was left alone in the room, where video evidence captured him attempting to hang himself.

Following these events, Perez was taken to a hospital under an involuntary psychiatric hold, and it was at this point, for the first time, that he was informed of his Miranda rights, indicating his right to remain silent, as stated by the judge. Later that night, one of the detectives received a call from Perez Sr’s daughter, confirming that her father had been found alive.

In an interview, the lawyer expressed that viewing the footage revealed how officers are capable of coercing individuals into providing false confessions.

“This case shows that if the police are skilled enough, and they grill you hard enough, they can get anybody to confess to anything,” the lawyer added.

See more: Police brutality history in US