Source: https://steeringlaw.com/jerry-l-steerings-more-notable-orange-county-police-misconduct-cases/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 05:17:16+00:00

Document:
Zion v. County of Orange, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Steering successfully argued that although the police man have the right to terminate the threat that a person may pose to them, that it did not follow that the police also had a right to summarily execute a suspect once the suspect no longer appears to pose a threat to anyone.United States District Judge James V. Selna that he did not believe any of the deputy’s conduct constituted a constitutional violation. Judge Selna ruled That that Constitution did not prohibit a police officer from standing over an obviously incapacitated suspect that the deputy had just shot at nine times from 10 feet away, shooting him 9 more times, and them stomping his head three separate times until the suspect stopped breathing (See, Jerry L. Steering’s oral argument to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of June 6, 2017).
The night before Connor Zion died he had a nightmare that shook him and scared his roommate. He drempt that he was shot to death by a police officer.Connor Zion had been experiencing multiple seizures and his seizure condition caused him to become psychotic. His roommate called his Mom in Seattle, who immediately drove to the airport and was with Connor in Laguna Niguel, California within six hours from the call from the roommate.
When him Mom showed up Connor Zion became extremely paranoid. He grabbed a kitchen knife and his mother and his roommate tried to take the knife from him; both of them being cut in the process. Connor then fled his Laguna Niguel condo and his mother called the police for help. Deputies Higgins and Lopez arrived at the scene of a call for service of a man with a knife.
In the course of that proceeding it was discovered that the Orange County Jail had an institutional and unconstitutional policy of requiring misdemeanor arrestees to post bail to be released from jail.
Mansfield v. City of Costa Mesa, United States District Court Case Number 8:05-cv-00133-CJC-RNB, (Santa Ana, Judge Carney). Mr. Steering had a civil rights case in 2004 with the Costa Mesa Police Department for the wrongful shooting of her two dogs in Mansfield v. City of Costa Mesa, U.S. Dist. Court, Central Dist. of Cal. (Santa Ana) (2006), $225,000.00 settlement for unreasonable shooting of family pit bull and for unlawful seizure of person. Two Costa Mesa Police Department police officers chased Mrs. Mansfield’s 15 year old son and his friends to her home because the youth were not wearing bicycle helmets. The officers were so zealous to warn the youths that they jumped over the backyard wall of the Mansfield home; finding their two Rottweilers in the backyard. When the dogs growled at the officer, he shot them; killing them. See, City pays $225,000 in dog’s death – Orange County Register, September 29, 2006 and Costa Mesa Pays Family Over Killing of Pit Bull by 2 Officers, Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2006.
Gomez v. County of Orange, et al., U.S. Dist. Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles) (2011) obtained $2,163,799.53 for unreasonable force on convicted jail inmate. Jason Gomez had been deprived of his pain medication by the Orange County Jail while serving a short probation violation commitment. When the jail then began to provide to him his pain medication, he grabbed and broke the arm of a nurse at the jail while she was finally providing Mr. Gomez’ medication. It was too late. The nurse jail nurse (with the now broken arm) had a husband who worked as a custodial deputy at the jail, and you can imagine what happened thereafter.
The jail personnel didn’t take too kindly to the arm breaking and decided to do a jail cell extraction.
for the use of police tactics that placed the plaintiff in a position of danger; a danger that did happen (i.e. non-lethal bystander gunshot wound); Norma Cortez et al. v. City of Anaheim, et al.; United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Farahani v. City of Santa Ana; Mr. Steering obtained a $612,000.00 jury verdict against a Santa Ana Police Department officer for unreasonable force, for a single baton strike to a young man’s head. See also, City to Pay $292,500 to Man Who Says Officer Beat Him : Litigation: Attorneys reach settlement after city’s appeal of a federal jury award of more than $600,000, Los Angeles Times, September 17, 199., “Police Brutality False Arrest Case Results” pages for verdicts / settlements / judgments against other police agencies.) See also, City to Pay $292,500 to Man Who Says Officer Beat Him : Litigation: Attorneys reach settlement after city’s appeal of a federal jury award of more than $600,000, Los Angeles Times, September 17, 1991.
obtained $200,000.00 for false arrest / unreasonable force.
Torrance v. County of Orange, et al., U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Santa Ana)(2010);See, Man stunned by deputies in his bedroom gets $380,000, Orange County Register, November 19, 2010 . The Laguna Beach Police Department got a bad tip on the man who hit and ran (with his fists) from a bar brewed brawl in the middle of the Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. The wine consumption of two otherwise law abiding groups of well-off locals got the best of them, and one of the men punched another in the cross-walk at Cress and Pacific Coast Highway.
This happened during a Laguna Beach Art Walk , something that takes place on the first Thursday of the month. Some do-gooder drunk lady saw the Laguna Beach Police Department detaining the group involved in the street fight, heard they were looking for a fleeing man and somehow had written down the license plate number of Skip Torrance’s car. She had seen his cursing after he had stubbed his toe on the street curb, saw thew blood on the foot (the nail) and saw Mr. Torrance get into his car and leave the scene quickly.
Laguna Beach PD called the Sheriff’s Department when they learned that Mr. Torrance’s car was registered to a location in Dana Point; a City that contracts with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for its police services.
The Deputy Sheriffs arrived at Mr. Torrance’s house. He was sleeping. They scaled a 7 foot brick wall, went into Mr. Torrance’s back yards, entered his rear sliding glass door that went into his bedroom, and literally pulled Mr. Torrance by his underpants to wake him up while he was asleep in bed. When Mr. Torrance awoke he saw two black silhouettes shining their flashlights at him. He jumped up from the bed, and was then tased, handcuffed taken outside for a line-up by the man who was punched in Laguna Beach. The punching victim told the the police that Mr. Torrance wasn’t the man who punched him, so the police arrested him for resisting arrest. Unbelievable.
Sharp v. County of Orange, et al.; Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Published Opinion) holding among other things that unlike a search warrant, an arrest warrant generally does not allow the officers executing it to detain others. This is the most important Fourth Amendment search and seizure pro-citizen case to come out of the Ninth Circuit in a long time. Prior to this case, police officers and agencies across the Western States would routinely detain others during the execution of arrest warrants and probation and parole searches. This case makes a great statement and a long needed one; that other than during the execution of a search warrant at a private residence, police officers may not routinely detain others present.

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