Torrance surfer shot at during Dorner manhunt to receive $1.8 million

A Torrance surfer will receive a $1.8-million settlement for being accidentally shot at by city police during the 2013 manhunt for former LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner.

David Perdue planned to go surfing on Feb. 7, 2013, during the height of the Dorner manhunt, when his truck was rammed by a Torrance police officer and then struck by several bullets.

Perdue was not hurt, and police at the time said his pickup truck matched the description of one belonging to Dorner, who had already killed three people and injured two others as he cut a bloody swath through Southern California last year.

“The Torrance Police Department is very sympathetic to the disruption this incident caused our community and to all involved,” said Sgt. Chris Roosen, the department’s public information officer.

The case was set to go to trial in August, and Perdue’s attorney has questioned how police could have confused Perdue with Dorner.

Perdue’s pickup truck was not the same model or color as Dorner’s, and the ex-cop was several inches taller than Perdue and roughly 100 pounds heavier, attorney Robert Sheahen previously said.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office previously cleared the officers involved in the shooting of any wrongdoing.

Dorner killed four people, three of them police officers, after releasing a manifesto that was critical of the Los Angeles Police Department and his removal from the agency. A hunt for the former officer lasted nine days, ultimately ending when Dorner committed suicide in San Bernardino County.

In April of last year, the LAPD settled a $4.2-million lawsuit filed by two female newspaper carriers who were also shot at by mistake during the manhunt.

“We want to thank the city of Torrance and the lawyers for the city of Torrance for their hard work to get this settled and their consummate professionalism,” Sheahen said Thursday.

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