A northern California metropolis has agreed to pay almost $1m to settle a lawsuit alleging police used extreme pressure when a Ok-9 canine tore out a lady’s scalp throughout her arrest.
Talmika Bates will obtain $967,000 from town of Brentwood, situated about 60 miles (100km) east of San Francisco in Contra Costa county, her attorneys introduced on Friday.
Bates, who was wished on suspicion of shoplifting objects from a make-up retailer, was hiding in bushes when the German shepherd bit her head through the arrest in February 2020.
The lady required greater than 200 stitches in her head, tissue rearrangement and laceration restore. She has been recognized with gentle diffuse traumatic mind damage, gentle post-traumatic mind syndrome and post-traumatic stress dysfunction, in line with her attorneys.
“We have to acknowledge that Ok-9s are harmful, typically deadly, weapons that may trigger life-altering injury or kill somebody even when an officer is making an attempt to get them to launch and relent,” mentioned the civil rights legal professional Adante Pointer. “Right here we noticed a skilled Ok-9 handler stand by whereas his canine mauled an unarmed younger woman who was surrendering.”
The settlement comes six months after a federal decide stripped the officer dealing with the police canine of a few of his certified immunity safety, as a result of the prolonged period of time he allowed his canine to chunk Bates may very well be thought-about by a jury as extreme pressure, her attorneys mentioned.
The Brentwood police chief, Timothy Herbert, mentioned town and its insurance coverage suppliers agreed to settle the case to keep away from additional litigation and enchantment prices.
“The lone declare by Ms Bates on this litigation was extreme pressure per the Fourth Modification. Within the litigation, the District Courtroom dominated that Officer Rezentes lawfully deployed his canine on this seek for the suspects, and that he had a lawful proper to make use of his canine to apprehend Ms Bates below the Fourth Modification,” Herbert mentioned in an announcement.
Herbert mentioned the police division at the moment had no working Ok-9 officers.
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