David Perdue, the LAX baggage handler whose pickup truck was riddled with bullets fired by Torrance Police officers on the lookout for now-dead rogue LAPD cop Christopher Jordan Dorner, has been paid $20,000 for his ride.
But in announcing that payment from the city of Torrance, Perdue's attorney also reportedly noted his client's federal court lawsuit for injuries suffered is still on.
]
In those tense February days when a Southern California-wide manhunt was under way for former La Palma resident Dorner, who at the time was accused of killing a couple in Irvine and a cop in Riverside County, Perdue and his black Honda Ridgeline were shot up by Torrance officers. That same early morning, LAPD detectives filled a blue Toyota Tacoma with lead a short distance away. A mom and daughter delivering newspapers were injured in that one.
Dorner had been in a silver Nissan Titan that was later found ablaze in Big Bear.
10 Who Have Been or Could be Mistaken for Manhunt Subject Christopher Jordan Dorner
Actually, it's a mystery what was in the heads of Torrance cops that Feb. 7 morning. (Cue the crickets …) Perdue was heading for the beach to catch some waves with his surfboard in the back of his Ridgeline when he was stopped twice to have his I.D. checked by police. His third encounter was less respectful, as a Torrance cop car rammed the pickup and officers opened fire, injuring Perdue's head and spine in the process.
Who Saw This Coming? Man Shot at by Police Manhunters for Christopher Dorner Sues
The excuse offered up by police: they mistook Perdue's truck for Dorner's and the surfer for the suspect.
“The two pickup trucks looked nothing alike,” Perdue's attorney, Robert Sheahen, says in a statement (via City News Service) in reference to his client and Dorner's vehicles. He also finds it weak sauce for the cops saying they confused the men: Dorner was black and weighed 270 pounds; Perdue is a white 160 pounder.
Sheahen says the $20,000 from the city will go toward daily living expenses for Perdue, his wife and children.
“You have no idea how difficult it has been for us,” says Lizette Perdue in the statement released by the lawyer. “My husband is in constant pain and he cannot work. I do not know why Torrance is treating us like this. Dave didn't do anything to them.”
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.