California city to pay nearly $1M to a woman whose scalp was torn by a police dog

BRENTWOOD, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California city has agreed to pay nearly $1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging police used excessive force when a K-9 dog tore out a woman’s scalp during her arrest.

Talmika Bates will receive $967,000 from the city of Brentwood, located about 60 miles (100 km) east of San Francisco in Contra Costa County, her attorneys announced Friday.

Bates, 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 2020.

The woman required more than 200 stitches in her head, tissue rearrangement and laceration repair. 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 comes six months after a federal judge stripped the officer handling the police K-9 of some of his qualified immunity protection, because the extended amount of time he allowed his dog to bite bite Bates could be considered by a jury as excessive force, her attorneys said.

Brentwood Police Chief Timothy Herbert said the city and its insurance providers agreed to settle the case to avoid further litigation and appeal costs.

“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.

Herbert said the police department currently has no working K-9 officers.