Woman Wins $1 Million from City of Brentwood After Being Bitten on the Scalp by Police Dog

The Northern California city of Brentwood has agreed to pay nearly $1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging police used excessive force when they sicced a canine dog on a woman’s scalp during her arrest, requiring her to get more than 200 stitches and other treatment. The plaintiff will receive $967,000 from the city of Brentwood, which is located about 50 miles east of San Francisco in Contra Costa County. The plaintiff, who was wanted on suspicion of shoplifting items from a makeup store, was hiding in bushes when the German Shepherd bit her head during the arrest in February of 2020. The plaintiff required more than 200 stitches in her head, tissue rearrangement, and laceration repair. She’s since been diagnosed with mild diffuse traumatic brain injury, mild post-traumatic brain syndrome, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to her attorneys.

The plaintiff’s attorney issued a statement saying, “We need to recognize that K-9s are dangerous, sometimes lethal, weapons that can cause life-altering damage or kill someone even when an officer is trying to get them to release and relent. Here we saw a trained K-9 handler stand by while his dog mauled an unarmed young lady who was surrendering.”

The settlement came six months after a federal judge stripped the officer handling the encounter of some of his qualified immunity protection, because of the extended amount of time he allowed his dog to bite the plaintiff. That could be considered by a jury to be excessive force. The Brentwood police chief said the city and its insurance providers agreed to settle the case to avoid further litigation and appeals costs.

The lawsuit comes at a time when dog bite incidents are at an all-time high in California. Such incidents generally involve members of the public who lose control of their animals and allow them to bite other people. However, more and more of these cases are being filed against police departments for the misuse of their canine units. To win such a lawsuit, you must allege that the police officer used excessive force and violated your 4th Amendment rights.

In the case mentioned above, the plaintiff was able to win her claim because she was able to establish that the police officer used excessive force when trying to apprehend her. According to the plaintiff, she was already in a state of surrender when the dog bit her. The officer was also blamed for allowing the dog to bite the victim for an extended period of time. This gave rise to allegations that the police officer had used excessive force to subdue the victim.

Talk to an Oakland, CA dog bite attorney today 

The Oakland personal injury attorneys at Venardi Zurada represent the interests of victims who have been bitten by dangerous dogs. We serve the Bay Area from our office locations in Oakland and Walnut Creek. Call our office today to schedule a consultation and we can begin discussing your case right away.

Source:

nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-bitten-scalp-police-dog-settles-1m-california-city-rcna180719