Police threaten to kill man’s dog if he does not falsely confess to killing father

Police officers in California threatened to euthanise a man’s dog if he did not confess to killing his father – who was alive.

In an interrogation in 2018, Thomas Perez Jr was told by officers that his dog would need to be put down due to “depression” from witnessing a murder that had not actually occurred.

After 17 hours of interrogation, Mr Perez falsely confessed and tried to kill himself.

Footage of the coerced false confession has sparked outrage in the US, and the city of Fontana has now agreed to pay Mr Perez $898,000 (£704,755) after a judge ruled that the questioning appeared to be “unconstitutional psychological torture”.

The ordeal began on August 7 2018 when Mr Perez’s father left home with their dog to collect his post and the dog returned alone. The following day Mr Perez called the police to report his father missing and was taken in for questioning.

Police claimed to find bloodstains in the house and said a police dog smelled the presence of a corpse.

During the interrogation where two officers accused Mr Perez of murder, he started pulling at his hair, hitting himself and tearing off his shirt.

Mr Perez also begged for medical attention and was reportedly told he did not need his psychiatric medication.

The judge noted that Mr Perez was “sleep deprived, mentally ill, and, significantly, undergoing symptoms of withdrawal from his psychiatric medications”.

After several hours, detectives falsely told Mr Perez that his father’s body had been located with stab wounds, the complaint says. At this point, Mr Perez falsely confessed and was left alone in the room, where he then tried to hang himself.

Jerry Steering, Mr Perez’s lawyer said: “This case shows that if the police are skilled enough, and they grill you hard enough, they can get anybody to confess to anything.”

Mr Perez was taken to a hospital on an involuntary psychiatric hold and read his rights for the first time.

Later that night, one of the detectives received a call that Mr Perez’s father had been located and was alive.

Mr Steering said that police did not inform his client that his father was alive. Instead, Mr Perez was kept isolated in a psychiatric hold for three days, believing both his father and dog had been killed.

The dog had been taken to a pound but was later rescued.

Fontana police have not issued a statement or said whether any officers faced disciplinary action.