On Jan. 21, 2010, plaintiff Asofa Tafilele, 34, an inmate at Kern Valley State Prison, was struck and pepper sprayed by correctional officers. Tafilele claimed that as a result, his left arm was broken while he was restrained. He further claimed that after the incident, a licensed vocational nurse refused to provide him medical treatment. Tafilele sued Warden Kelly Harrington; Correctional Officer Sergeant Rivera; Licensed Vocational Nurse Meza; and Correctional Officers Northcutt, Solez, Mata, Williams, Hernandez, Murphy, Spurgeon, Wojick, and Lomelli. Tafilele, who appeared pro se, claimed that Northcutt punched him and that Solez used pepper spray on him and ordered him to get down. He also claimed that while he was lying down, Northcutt and Solez continued to strike him and pepper spray him, and that Mata shot him in the legs with a beanbag round. Tafilele further claimed that Hernandez, Williams, Spurgeon and Murphy pepper-sprayed him and struck him in the head prior to restraining him. Tafilele contended that staff dragged him, slammed him on his back, and repeatedly struck him all over, causing him permanent . He also contended that Rivera, Hernandez and Solez saw what occurred and failed to protect him. In addition, Tafilele contended that Meza refused to provide him medical treatment after the incident. Tafilele called three inmate witnesses, who were former cellmates, to testify. However, defense counsel noted that one of the witnesses was housed in a different unit at the time of the incident. Northcutt and Solez were ultimately let out of the case prior to trial. Thus, the matter proceeded to trial on Tafilele’s Eighth Amendment excessive force claim against Mata, Murphy, Hernandez, Williams and Spurgeon, and on Tafilele’s Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference to medical care claim against Meza. Defense counsel argued that reasonable force (a beanbag round and pepper spray) was used on Tafilele only after he struck Northcutt in the face, and continued to try to move toward staff and ignore orders to get down. Counsel also argued that none of the officers used any force while Tafilele was compliant or prone, but only acted in response to Tafilele’s aggressive and assaultive actions. In addition, defense counsel argued that Meza promptly evaluated Tafilele before he was sent to Administrative Segregation for assaulting staff., Tafilele had a hairline fracture of his right arm, minor bruises/scratches, and redness on his shoulder/forehead from pepper spray exposure. Medical care was ultimately provided by the state Department of Corrections. Defense counsel argued that Tafilele’s arm had healed, given Tafilele’s own admission that he does 200 to 300 pushups and burpees daily.