On April 10, 2014, plaintiffs’ decedent Ferreol Cardenas Jr., an unemployed 32 year old, was driving west on Rosecrans Avenue, in area of Manhattan Beach and El Segundo, when he made an unsafe lane change in front of a patrol vehicle operated by Manhattan Beach Police Department Officer Michael Lynch. When Lynch noticed that Cardenas’ vehicle was missing a license plate, Lynch switched on his emergency lights to pull Cardenas over. However, Cardenas turned onto a side street and pulled into a dead end, near a parking structure. He then bailed out of his vehicle, and ran off through a business complex and down a fire lane. As a result, Lynch used his Taser on Cardenas and then waited for Officer Brandon Muzatko to arrive as backup. The officers were eventually able to handcuff Cardenas and then brought him to a hospital to be evaluated. Cardenas spent five days in the hospital, and then came back a week later with complaints of severe headaches and neck stiffness. He died of head trauma several days later. Los Angeles County coroner’s medical examiners ruled Cardenas’ death a homicide by blunt force trauma, believing that the Taser must have caused Cardenas to hit his head on the ground after the fall. However, Cardenas’ parents disputed that belief. As a result, the Manhattan Beach Police Department requested that a Los Angeles sheriff’s investigation be launched into Lynch’s conduct, and Lynch was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing. The decedent’s parents, Ferreol Cardenas Sr. and Rosa Cardenas, sued Lynch, Muzatko, and the city of Manhattan Beach. The decedent’s parents alleged that the officers’ actions constituted excessive force in violation of their son’s constitutional rights and resulting in their son’s wrongful death. They also alleged that the city was liable for the officers’ actions. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the blunt force trauma to the decedent’s head was caused by the officers. Specifically, counsel contended that after Lynch shocked the decedent with his Taser, the officers repeatedly struck the decedent in the head, face, and body and that as a result, the decedent suffered multiple skull fractures, facial , and fatal brain including subdural hemorrhages. Defense counsel contended that the decedent grabbed his waistband area when he left his vehicle and again when he slowed down after fleeing. Counsel contended that as a result, Lynch drew his Taser, and ordered the decedent to stop and lie down on the ground. Counsel maintained that when the decedent ignored the commands, Lynch used his Taser once for five seconds, causing the decedent to fall to the ground and land on his buttocks. Defense counsel contended that the decedent then sat back up, pulled his knees up to his chest, and then refused to comply with any of Lynch’s commands to lie on the ground. Counsel contended that Lynch then waited for Muzatko to arrive as backup and to assist with handcuffing the decedent. However, both officers testified that they were able to handcuff the decedent without incident. Eyewitness testimony indicated that the decedent never struck his head on the ground or on any object. Lynch also testified that the decedent did not hit his head when he fell, and both officers testified that they simply rolled the decedent onto his side and handcuffed him. The dash camera recording only showed the decedent disappearing behind the parking structure when he ran. However, defense counsel noted that while the audio recording continued, it did not depict any sounds of a beating. In addition, defense counsel noted that there was no testimony offered at trial that the decedent ever accused the officers of wrongdoing prior to his death., Ferreol Cardenas Jr. sustained multiple skull fractures, facial , and fatal brain , including subdural hemorrhages. After spending five days in a hospital following his arrest, he came back a week later complaining of severe headaches and neck stiffness. He ultimately died of head trauma several days later, on April 25, 2014. Thus, the decedent’s parents, Ferreol Cardenas Sr. and Rosa Cardenas, sought recovery of wrongful death damages for the loss of their son, as well as punitive damages and attorney fees. Expert testimony by medical experts on both sides offered various theories about the likely cause of the to the decedent’s head. However, defense counsel noted that the coroner’s medical examiners both testified that the decedent’s skull were not consistent with blows to the head. Defense counsel noted that after his arrest, during a video-recorded interview at the hospital, the decedent denied being in a fight on the night of the incident and claimed that he hurt his head inside his car. Counsel also noted that during his second hospital stay, the decedent claimed that he had been having severe headaches since four days before his arrest. Thus, defense counsel contended that in the 15 days that passed from the arrest incident until his death, the decedent never told any doctor, investigator, police officer, or his parents how he hurt his head. Counsel contended that, instead, the only evidence of how the decedent might have hurt his head was the video-recorded interview, where the decedent denied being in a fight and claimed his head injury occurred in his car before he encountered the police. Thus, defense counsel argued that any head trauma the decedent sustained occurred before the traffic stop and that there was no evidence or eyewitness testimony to corroborate the plaintiffs’ theory that Lynch or Muzatko had struck or harmed the decedent’s head.