| Court upholds $1.5 for LE K9 Bite......
Got this from a LE friend of mine in Ohio (unfortunately he did not send it as a link.....)
Court upholds $1.5M award for man bitten by Wash. K-9 Dec. 26, 2008
Kristin M. Kraemer The Tri-City Herald. A Washougal man was justly
awarded more than $1.5 million after he was bitten in 2003 by a
Kennewick police dog, a federal appeals court announced Tuesday.The
2007 jury verdict in favor of Ken Rogers and a later decision to
increase the total tab to cover court costs were not "grossly excessive
or monstrous."The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
upheld the federal case, brought by Rogers against the city of
Kennewick, Benton County and four law enforcement officers.Rogers sued
on the grounds that his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable
seizure were violated when the officers allowed a police dog to enter
the fenced backyard where the man was sleeping and attack him.The jury
decided that the officers acted maliciously or in reckless disregard
for his constitutional rights."Although Mr. Rogers was not the actual
suspect that the police officers sought, the police K-9's biting of Mr.
Rogers constituted a seizure under the Fourth Amendment," the six-page
decision said.Rogers and his wife, Mary Lou, were awarded nearly $1.1
million in compensatory and punitive damages.The appeals court said
substantial evidence supported the award for future economic damages,
while the amount for punitive damages "was not excessive considering
the officers' conduct and the amount and proportion of the damage
awards."Three months after the jury verdict in a Richland courtroom,
U.S. District Judge Ed Shea - who presided over the trial - increased
the award by $516,000 to pay court costs and attorney and paralegal
fees.The Rogers family has yet to receive any money as the city quickly
filed an appeal.Larry Ziegler, one of three attorneys for the Rogerses,
on Tuesday said maybe now his clients will get paid."There is a Santa
Claus, there really is a Santa Claus," he said. "This thing has dragged
on for so long."Ziegler, a longtime friend of Ken Rogers, said he never
had any doubts about the case."I knew it was a good case when we
started it," he said. "I knew that we were telling the truth, and I
thought that we had the law and the facts on our side."The appeal was
argued Nov. 21 in Seattle before three appeals court judges.Jerry
Moberg, an Ephrata lawyer hired by the insurance company that covered
the city at the time, could not be reached Tuesday afternoon.Kennewick
City Attorney Lisa Beaton told the Herald in August 2007 that the city
had already maxed out its $100,000 financial liability in the case. The
insurance carrier is on the hook to pay the rest, she said.The case
could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.It all started with a minor
traffic case in the early hours of July 13, 2003. Police were looking
for a person riding a Moped without a helmet or headlight.Meanwhile,
Rogers was asleep in a backyard on West Victoria Street.Deke, a
Kennewick police dog, followed a wrong scent into the yard. Believing
Rogers was the suspect, Deke latched onto him and in the struggle bit
him several times on the hand, back, neck and face while three officers
beat him.Rogers said he fought back because he wasn't wearing his
glasses and thought he was being attacked by prowlers. His innocence
was never questioned during the lawsuit.The Kennewick native was in
town at the time to visit family and to fish.He suffered permanent
nerve damage to his left hand - and he is left-handed, hearing loss in
his right ear and mental anguish and anxiety. The attack also
aggravated a disabling back injury.At trial, one of his lawyers Diehl
Rettig said it was an illegal use of excessive force.Rogers told the
Herald after the 2007 verdict that if police administrators had called
him in the attack aftermath, it would have gone a long way. But when
nothing happened, he decided to file the lawsuit to make sure this type
of incident doesn't happen to someone else.The lawsuit accused the
agencies of unlawful imprisonment, false arrest, undue search and
seizure and of failing to get him adequate medical treatment.Rogers
sought punitive damages against Kennewick Sgt. Richard Dopke, police
officers Brad Kohn and Ryan Bonnalie and sheriff's Deputy Jeff
Quackenbush, but only Dopke and Kohn were ordered to pay.Dopke retired
in 2003 after an internal affairs review of the incident recommended
his demotion to a patrolman and relief of his supervisory
duties.Bonnalie was fired from the department in 2005 after he
brandished his loaded police gun while off duty during a road rage
incident.Deke retired from the force in early 2006."We think everybody
benefits on this," Ziegler said. "It just sends a damn strong signal
that this kind of stuff just is not going to be tolerated. There just
is a line that you don't cross. | 
