On Oct. 31, 2015, plaintiff Samuel Chang, 23, a physical therapy student, was handing out candy in the neighborhood he grew up in, near his grandmother’s house in Chatsworth, when he was approached by Eric Carpenter, a member of the Los Angeles Fire Department who was off-duty and having a party at his house. Carpenter was joined by fellow off-duty firefighters, Michael Vitar, Thomas Molnar, Michael Cirlin and Eugene Elbert. The group followed Chang, accusing him of giving out drug-laced candy to children, and eventually tackled Chang to the ground. Carpenter wrapped his arm around Chang’s neck, holding him in a choke hold, while the others pinned Chang to the ground. When Chang lost consciousness and went limp, two of the off-duty firefighters started performing CPR in an attempt to revive him. The incident was caught on video. Carpenter was allowed to plead no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge in 2017. He was sentenced to three years’ probation and 135 days of community service. Vitar and Molnar both pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery charges, and they received three years’ probation and 90 days of community service. The other men allegedly involved in the incident were not criminally charged. Chang sued Carpenter, Vitar, Molnar, Cirlin and Elbert, alleging that the defendants’ actions constituted assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and negligence. While Adam Kansas was listed on the docket as a defendant, plaintiff’s counsel claimed that Kansas was not a defendant in this case., While being pinned down and placed in a chokehold, Chang lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest. CPR was performed on him while 9-1-1 was called. He was then taken to a hospital, where he remained for several weeks in the intensive-care unit. It was determined that Chang’s most serious included a subdural hematoma and kidney failure. Chang claimed he suffers from cognition impairment as a result of a traumatic brain injury. He alleged that as a result, he had to delay his graduate studies for almost a year. Chang also claimed that he continues to suffer from chronic headaches and that he has trouble reading and processing information due to his . He further claimed that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incident. Chang claimed that, at minimum, he will require future care that entails cognitive rehabilitation therapy for his brain injury and psychiatric counseling for his post-traumatic stress disorder.