BRENTWOOD, Calif. A Northern California city has agreed to pay nearly $1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging police used excessive force after a K-9 dog bit into a woman s scalp during her arrest, requiring her to get more than 200 stitches and other treatment.
Talmika Bates will receive $967,000 from the city of Brentwood, located about 60 miles east of San Francisco in Contra Costa County, her attorneys announced Friday.
When Bates was arrested in February 2020, the German Shepherd bit her head when she was hiding in bushes. Bates was wanted on suspicion of stealing items from a beauty business.
In addition to laceration healing and tissue realignment, the woman needed more than 200 stitches in her head. She s been diagnosed with mild diffuse traumatic brain injury, mild post-traumatic brain syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to her attorneys.
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, said civil rights attorney Adante Pointer. Here we saw a trained K-9 handler stand by while his dog mauled an unarmed young lady who was surrendering.
The settlement was reached six months after a federal judge denied the officer in charge of the police K-9 some of his qualified immunity protection because, according to Bates’ lawyers, a jury might find that the officer’s prolonged use of force was excessive.
In order to prevent more litigation and appeal expenses, the city and its insurance carriers reached a settlement, according to Brentwood Police Chief Timothy Herbert.
The lone claim by Ms. Bates in this litigation was excessive force per the Fourth Amendment. In the litigation, the District Court ruled that Officer Rezentes lawfully deployed his canine in this search for the suspects, and that he had a lawful right to use his canine to apprehend Ms. Bates under the Fourth Amendment, Herbert said in a statement.
According to Herbert, there aren’t any K-9 officers on duty at the police department right now.
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