On Oct. 13, 2008, plaintiff Shahram Salimitari, a surgeon, was asked to move his black BMW 323i, which he had allegedly double-parked outside of a flower shop in a strip mall in Valencia. An argument subsequently ensued between Salimitari and the flower shop owner. As a result, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies, including Deputy Thomas Babiracki and Deputy Hutt, responded to the scene and used pepper spray on Salimitari. In February 2011, Salimitari pleaded guilty to battery on the store owner and to resisting arrest. He was then sentenced to 30 days in jail, 200 hours of community service and three years of probation. In July 2011, Salimitari sued Babiracki, Hutt and the deputies’ employer, the county of Los Angeles. Salimitari alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted excessive force in violation of his constitutional rights. Specifically, Salimitari claimed the deputies hit him in the head, kicked him, and handcuffed him to a gurney. He also claimed that the use of pepper spray on him was unnecessary. The owner of the flower shop claimed that he asked Salimitari was to move his vehicle, which was double-parked outside her store for over 45 minutes in violation of the 15-minute restriction on parking in the shopping center. An employee of the flower shop testified to calling 9-1-1 after Salimitari entered the store carrying a golf club as a weapon, refused to leave and verbally berated the store owner. The flower shop owner testified that Salimitari swore at her and allegedly said, “If you do anything to my car, I’ll kill you.” She also testified that after the 2008 incident, she obtained a restraining order, which is still in effect, that prohibits Salimitari from coming within 100 yards of her. The store owner, her employee, and numerous deputies further testified that Salimitari never was hit in the head, kicked, or punched, and that the deputies only pepper sprayed Salimitari when he was resisting arrest. In addition, defense counsel presented a videotape of the incident, which allegedly demonstrated that neither Babiracki nor Hutt had any involvement in placing Salimitari on the gurney. Babiracki claimed that he was the first deputy to arrive at the scene and that he attempted to conduct his investigation of the incident by asking Salimitari, who was in his car at the time, to step out of his vehicle so that a pat down search could be conducted, which was his legal right to do. However, Babiracki claimed that rather than comply with his order, Salimitari took aggressive steps toward him, threatened to kill him, and raised his fists at him. He claimed that as a result, he radioed for assistance. Hutt claimed that he was the first deputy to respond to Babiracki’s call for assistance and that Salimitari was still irate and refusing to comply with deputies orders when he arrive at the scene. The deputies alleged that they warned Salimitari that they would pepper spray him if he continued to refuse their lawful orders to get on the ground and stop resisting, but that Salimitari continued in his refusal. They alleged that as a result, they both pepper sprayed Salimitari, after which, he became momentarily compliant and voluntarily got on the ground. However, the deputies claimed Salimitari’s compliance did not last, as Salimitari soon began to kick at them. Babiracki claimed that as a result, he warned Salimitari that he would pepper spray him again if Salimitari did not stop kicking, but that Salimitari refused and he pepper sprayed Salimitari again. The deputies further claimed that even after being pepper sprayed, Salimitari’s irate behavior, kicking, profanity, threats to kill, and refusal to listen to them continued. They alleged that as a result, numerous other deputies responded to the scene in order to control Salimitari, and that they all were eventually able to restrain and handcuff him., Salimitari claimed the officers hit him in the head, pepper sprayed him, kicked him, and handcuffed him to a gurney. He alleged he was injured in the incident. Thus, he sought recovery of general and punitive damages in an amount in excess of $500,000.