SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento officials have agreed to pay $99,000 to the owner of a dog that was shot at by Sacramento police officers.
The owner of the dog sued the city of Sacramento and Sacramento Police Department for damages on March 2, 2020. The lawsuit was filed by Sacramento civil rights lawyer Mark Merin on behalf of Kevin Cole, who claims he was falsely arrested after his dog, Nikki, was shot during the incident outside of the Midtown Safeway on 19th and S streets.
Video of the incident released by the department showed some of what happened outside of the Safeway.
The video shows that officers told Cole several times to leave the property, but when Cole didn't comply, an officer attempted to arrest him. During the arrest, Nikki the dog can be seen lunging at a responding officer.
“The dog had its mouth around my hand, but there is nothing there,” the unnamed officer can be heard saying in the video. “It didn’t like actually bite me. It was snarling and growling and snipping. I have no idea why it didn’t bite me.”
Despite Sacramento police officials claiming the dog bit the officer, the officer in the video seems to say otherwise. In addition to Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn, officers Justin Shepard and George Martinez are also named in the complaint, but it is unclear which officer actually fired shots.
"You don't just get to shoot a person's dog and the person himself unless they pose serious danger or threat to life," said Mark Merin, civil rights attorney.
According to court documents, the complaint alleges that police officers falsely arrested him and recklessly discharged their firearm. Nikki, Cole, and a security guard were injured by shrapnel from the bullet that the officer fired. Both Cole and the security guard were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Nikki was taken to a Sacramento animal shelter with a minor injury to her paw and she survived.
Merin called the incident an "outrageous excessive use of force."
The case was ultimately settled with the city for $99,000.
“The City had been working toward a fair and reasonable resolution to this case and feels that was achieved with this settlement,” said Tim Swanson, spokesperson for the city of Sacramento, in a statement.
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Years before George Floyd died at the hands of police, an Elk Grove man died under similar circumstances. Why positional asphyxia and a lack of policy is troubling.
