Police seeking Dorner opened fire in a second case of mistaken identityTorrance police say the man was driving a pickup resembling the fugitive's. The incident happened
just after the LAPD fired on women delivering newspapers nearby.
David Perdue with his wife, Lyzzette, in their Redondo Beach home; Torrance police fired on his vehicle
and rammed it Thursday in a case of mistaken identity. Perdue suffered injuries in the collision but was
not hit by gunfire. (Genaro Molina, Los Angeles Times / February 9, 2013)
By Robert Faturechi and Matt Stevens, Los Angeles Times
February 9, 2013, 8:50 p.m.
David Perdue was on his way to sneak in some surfing before work Thursday morning when
police flagged him down. They asked who he was and where he was headed, then sent him on his way.
Seconds later, Perdue's attorney said, a Torrance police cruiser slammed into his pickup and
officers opened fire; none of the bullets struck Perdue.
His pickup, police later explained, matched the description of the one belonging to Christopher
Jordan Dorner — the ex-cop who has evaded authorities after allegedly killing three and wounding
two more.
But the pickups were different makes and colors. And Perdue looks nothing like Dorner:
He's several inches shorter and about a hundred pounds lighter. And Perdue is white; Dorner is black.
"I don't want to use the word buffoonery but it really is unbridled police lawlessness," said Robert
Sheahen, Perdue's attorney. "These people need training and they need restraint."
The incident involving Perdue was the second time police looking for the fugitive former LAPD officer
opened fire on someone else. The shootings have raised concerns that the fear Dorner has instilled
has added another layer of danger.
"Nobody trains police officers to look for one of their own," said Maria Haberfeld, a police training
professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "I wouldn't want to be in their shoes
and I don't think anybody else would."
Torrance police said the officers who slammed into Perdue were responding to shots fired moments
earlier in a nearby area where LAPD officers were standing guard outside the home of someone
targeted in an online manifesto that authorities have attributed to Dorner.
In the first incident, LAPD officers opened fire on another pickup they feared was being driven by
Dorner. The mother and daughter inside the truck were delivering Los Angeles Times newspapers.
The older woman was shot twice in the back and the other was wounded by broken glass.
In Perdue's case, his attorney said he wasn't struck by bullets or glass but was injured in the car
wreck, suffering a concussion and an injury to his shoulder. The LAX baggage handler hasn't been
able to work since, and his car is totaled, Sheahen said.
"When Torrance issues this ridiculous statement saying he wasn't injured, all they mean is he wasn't
killed," his attorney said, referring to a press release reporting "no visible injuries" to Perdue.
A department spokesman said Saturday that the shooting is still under investigation. In a statement
to The Times, the department said: "The circumstances of the incident known to the responding
officers would have led a reasonable officer under normal circumstances — and these were far from
normal circumstances — to believe that fellow officers were being shot at and that the vehicle
traveling toward them posed a serious risk.
"In the split seconds available to them," the statement continued, "action was appropriate to
intervene and stop the actions of the driver of that vehicle."
According to the police department, Perdue's car was headed directly for one of their patrol vehicles
and appeared not to be yielding. When the vehicles collided, Perdue's air bag went off, blocking the
view of the driver, and one officer fired three rounds.
The Torrance police chief apologized to Perdue and offered him a rental car and payment for his
medical expenses, the statement said.
Similarly, an LAPD spokesman said Saturday that Chief Charlie Beck will provide a new truck to
the two women injured by officers in pursuit of Dorner.
Cmdr. Andrew Smith said he and Beck met separately with the two women Saturday. The truck will
be purchased using money from donors, Smith said.
The action does not necessarily preclude a lawsuit from the women or a settlement. The women's
attorney, Glen T. Jonas, said, "The family appreciates that Chief Beck apologized on behalf of the
LAPD."
The search for Dorner has spanned the region, with authorities hoping they had tracked Dorner down
in Big Bear only for the trail to go cold there. His alleged campaign to take revenge on those he
blamed for his dismissal from the LAPD has stoked fears among local police, many of whom are
involved in the search. The sense of chaos has been amplified by police around the state and beyond
being forced to chase down bogus leads and erroneous sightings.
Connie Rice, a civil rights attorney, said it's not surprising when police make mistakes during manhunts.
"They don't know where he is, and they're going to be edgy and jumpy," she said. "Don't get in their
way. They're in a special state of consciousness right now, and they're not used to being hunted."
Perdue's attorneys said their client was shot at without warning.
"As you know, officers of the Torrance Police Department attempted to kill Mr. Perdue" Thursday, the
attorneys wrote in a letter to the agency's chief.
robert.faturechi@latimes.com
matt.stevens@latimes.com
Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.
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