On Dec. 26, 2013, plaintiff’s decedent Asa Dolak, 19, threatened his girlfriend and another man with a knife, and set fire to the apartment while his son, then 2 years old, was also inside. Dolak allegedly told his girlfriend to leave and, thereafter, set the apartment on fire with his 2-year-old son still inside. Officers were unable to rescue the child, but firefighters were subsequently able to pull the child to safety. Dolak fled, and over the course of the next 13-hours, repeatedly threatened to kill his girlfriend, his mother, and any police officers that tried to arrest him. He also claimed he would set fire to his mother’s house on Opal Street. Thus, shortly after he set the first fire, Dolak’s mother’s house was set on fire. In addition, Dolak demanded money from a friend and the friend’s family while brandishing a knife. Torrance Police Officers later found Dolak at Madrona Middle School, in Torrance, across the street from his mother’s burned home. Dolak attempted to run toward an active construction job site, fleeing from officers while holding a knife on the open school grounds. As a result, officers fired 18 rounds, striking Dolak eight times and killing him. A sergeant and three officers were eventually identified as being involved in the shooting. Dolak’s son, the 2-year-old child, acting by and through his guardian ad litem, sued the employer of the sergeant and the officers involved in the shooting, the city of Torrance. The child’s guardian alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted negligent and excessive force, in violation of Dolak’s civil rights, resulting in Dolak’s wrongful death. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that Dolak was running from the police when he was shot, indicating that Dolak posed no immediate threat to the officers. Counsel also contended that seven of the entry wounds went from back to front, indicating that Dolak was not warned before he was shot in the back. Defense counsel contended that the officers gave Dolak repeated commands, warning him to stop and drop the knife, prior to firing the bullets that struck Dolak back to front, and right to left in the leg, hip, arm, and head. Thus, counsel argued that the police acted reasonably, as Dolak was an immediate threat to the officers and to the construction workers, and posed an imminent threat to the community at large, if he escaped., Dolak sustained eight gunshot wounds, with bullets striking his back, leg, hip, arm and head. He subsequently died at the scene. He was survived by the plaintiff, his then 2-year-old son. Thus, the decedent’s son sought recovery of wrongful death damages for the loss of his father.