On Oct. 27, 2011, plaintiff Robert Jackson III, 43, an unemployed white male, was reported to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department as being a felony theft suspect. When patrol deputies arrived at Jackson’s home in the high desert of Apple Valley, at around noon, they learned that Jackson had prior arrests and/or convictions for several crimes, including assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and possession of a firearm by a felon. Jackson’s neighbor also advised the patrol deputies that Jackson claimed to have an “arsenal of weapons” in his home and that Jackson would use them if anyone threatened him. As a result, the patrol deputies tried for several hours to get Jackson to come out of his house and surrender, issuing multiple commands over their loudspeaker and at the door, but Jackson refused to comply with any of the deputies’ instructions. Based on Jackson’s history of using weapons against peace officers and concerns that Jackson may be armed with multiple firearms, the patrol deputies obtained a search warrant to enter Jackson’s home and asked the Sheriff’s Department’s special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team to conduct the warrant entry and arrest of Jackson. However, when the plainclothes SWAT warrant-service team of seven deputies entered Jackson’s home, Jackson fled into his attic. Because of the risk of a potential ambush in the attic, the SWAT team stayed on the ground floor and tried to convince Jackson to show his hands, come down, and surrender; first by using commands and entreaties, and then by using pepper spray powder dispensers to try to force Jackson to leave the attic. Despite hours of SWAT attempts to press Jackson to surrender, Jackson failed to comply with any deputy commands and he never surrendered. At about 4:59 p.m., all on-duty SWAT deputies were summoned to the scene as back-up, with a plan to tear away portions of Jackson’s wall so that the deputies could attempt to arrest him without so great a risk of ambush. As a result, all-SWAT preparations were being made as a perimeter of SWAT operators took positions around the corners of Jackson’s home. Shortly after sunset, at around 6:29 p.m., minutes after a police helicopter left the scene, Jackson launched his escape plan to leave the attic by breaking out of a 14-inch x 24-inch vent in the northern section of the attic. His intention was to either pull himself up onto the roof, or lower himself down from the roof and then run off into the desert. However, during Jackson’s escape attempt, Detective Bannes of the San Diego Police Department and his partner began to approach Jackson’s position. Ultimately, Jackson slipped out of the attic vent and fell head-first onto the ground, where he was handcuffed and arrested. It was acknowledged that, during the incident, Jackson was struck in his lower, left abdomen with a Taser XREP (extended range electronic projectile) — a free-flying, non-lethal, conducted electrical weapon that is deployed from a shotgun — and that the projectile was deployed by Bannes. However, it was disputed where and when the Taser was deployed. Jackson was later convicted of resisting/obstructing arrest due to his conduct during the incident. However, shortly after the incident, deputies learned that Jackson had been paralyzed from the waist down as a result of his fall. Jackson sued Detective Bannes; Sergeant Charbonneau; Detective Ades; Detective Ogaz; and the officers’ employer, the county of San Bernardino. Jackson alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted excessive force in violation of his civil rights, battery, and negligent use of force. Ades, Charbonneau, and Ogaz were ultimately dismissed from the case, and the matter continued only against the county and Bannes, also, a white male. Jackson claimed that he had no weapons on him as Bannes and his partner approached him in the attic, but that Bannes still deployed the Taser XREP, striking him in the lower abdomen. He also claimed that subsequently fell from the vent as a result of being struck by the Taser XREP. Thus, he claimed that Bannes was negligent in his use of force. Defense counsel contended that eyewitness testimony from the responding SWAT deputies claimed that as Bannes and his partner began to approach Jackson’s position, Jackson slipped out of the vent and fell head-first to the ground. SWAT deputies testified that as two deputies accelerated their approach after the fall, Jackson used his arms to push up off the ground at a steep angle, as though to stand up and charge or flee the deputies, with his hands near his waistband where a weapon could have been concealed. They further claimed that while Jackson was in a steep, threatening, upright position on the ground, deputies made multiple commands to lie down and show his hands, but that Jackson ignored the commands. They claimed that as a result of Jackson ignoring the multiple commands to lay down flat on the ground and show his hands, Bannes first deployed a bean bag round, but it missed Jackson and, instead, pierced the north wall of his house. The SWAT deputies alleged that after additional commands were ignored, Bannes then deployed the Taser XREP shell, which struck Jackson’s abdomen and subsequently incapacitated him long enough to allow two deputies, who were on the perimeter, to handcuff him. Thus, the deputies claimed that Jackson was struck with the Taser XREP after the fall and that Bannes, or any other officer employed by the county of San Bernardino, was not liable for Jackson’s fall and subsequent paralysis. Defense counsel noted that Jackson gave a statement shortly after the incident where he admitted that he fell from the attic because he slipped and that he was struck with the Taser projectile after his fall, but that Jackson changed his description of events in his lawsuit. In addition, the defense’s expert on trajectory and Taser XREP physics testified that, given Jackson’s self-reported position in the attic vent just before his fall and his elevated position above the responding deputies, Jackson’s claim of being knocked out of the attic vent as a result of being struck with the Taser projectile was physically impossible. Thus, defense counsel argued that defendants were not liable for Jackson’s fall, paralysis, or incident-related ., As he was being handcuffed, Jackson informed the deputies that he could not feel his legs. He was subsequently transported to a local hospital. It was ultimately determined that Jackson became paralyzed from the navel down as a result of his fall from the attic vent. Thus, Jackson sought recovery of between $4 million and $12 million in damages for his paralysis-related life care plan. Defense counsel argued that Jackson’s prior statements effectively admitted that the cause of his fall from the attic vent was due to his hand slipping and that there was no Taser involvement in his attic vent fall.