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Atlanta Police Dog Wins Lawsuit
allen griggs
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Bitten burglar sues and loses; Draco the police dog prevails
ATLANTA-NEWS By Bill Rankin - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2
Draco the police dog in action. He is now retired. (Gwinnett County Police Department)
Posted: 2:58 p.m. Monday, May 22, 2017
Dog bites man. Man sues dog. Dog wins.
The dog was Draco, a prized member of the Gwinnett County Police Department?s K-9 unit. But on July 6, 2013, Draco bit the arm of burglary suspect Randall Kevin Jones, who later claimed the dog clamped down for what ?seemed like a lifetime.?
Jones was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center and given stitches for the dog bite before being jailed and charged with burglary and obstruction. Two years later, he filed a highly unusual lawsuit, in that he not only sued the officers involved but also ?Officer K-9 Draco of the Gwinnett County Police Department in his individual capacity.?
The lawsuit, alleging excessive use of force, said Draco ?viciously mauled? Jones, ?tearing his flesh and permanently injuring and disfiguring him, while ? officers stood by and failed to intervene.?
When a federal judge rejected Gwinnett?s initial attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, the county appealed. On Friday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw out the case against Draco.
?We hold that a dog may not be sued individually for negligence since a dog is not a ?person,?? Judge Robin Rosenbaum wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. Georgia law, she noted, does not allow such claims to be litigated against dogs.
The mere notion of allowing a lawsuit against a dog raises abundant practical issues, Rosenbaum added. How would you formally serve the lawsuit on a dog? What about the dog?s retention of legal representation? How can a dog be expected to pay damages?
Draco, a Belgian Malinois, retired from the K-9 unit in mid-2014 after seven years on the force, helping officers track down suspects and find stashes of illegal drugs.
In her opinion, Judge Rosenbaum wrote that the dog?s name has long been associated with notorious characters. This includes Draco, the legislator of ancient Greece whose harsh legal code inspired the word ?draconian.? Then there?s Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter?s malevolent rival in the popular literary series, the judge noted. Because of what happened to Jones during his arrest, Rosenbaum wrote, ?And to the list of infamous Dracos, add defendant-appellant Draco.?
He?s not so infamous, say Draco?s fellow officers.
?He?s an amazing animal,? Gwinnett police spokeswoman Michelle Pihera said. ?His K-9 handler thought the world of him.?
The 11th Circuit decision also dismissed Jones? claims against three police officers at the scene. The court did not address one remaining claim ? that the county failed to properly train its police force, which played a role in Jones? injuries.
Gwinnett?s police department does not comment on ongoing litigation, Pihera said.
Jones, 43, of Flowery Branch, was charged with breaking into his ex-girlfriend?s apartment in Buford and taking her TV, Playstation 3, camera and iPod Touch. The woman said she called police after arriving home and seeing Jones walk off with her TV near the apartments? pool. An officer who arrived at the scene said he saw Jones jump a fence and head down a ravine near a retention pond, a police report said.
When he didn?t surrender, Jones was warned that Draco would be released, the report said. When Draco eventually found Jones, he bit him on the upper left arm. Police found an iPod Touch, a Wi-Fi adapter and a TV remote in Jones? pockets and soon located the other missing items, the report said.
In August 2014, Jones pleaded guilty to burglary and obstruction and was sentenced to 10 years on probation and one year in confinement.
Bitten burglar sues and loses; Draco the police dog prevails
ATLANTA-NEWS By Bill Rankin - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2
Draco the police dog in action. He is now retired. (Gwinnett County Police Department)
Posted: 2:58 p.m. Monday, May 22, 2017
Dog bites man. Man sues dog. Dog wins.
The dog was Draco, a prized member of the Gwinnett County Police Department?s K-9 unit. But on July 6, 2013, Draco bit the arm of burglary suspect Randall Kevin Jones, who later claimed the dog clamped down for what ?seemed like a lifetime.?
Jones was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center and given stitches for the dog bite before being jailed and charged with burglary and obstruction. Two years later, he filed a highly unusual lawsuit, in that he not only sued the officers involved but also ?Officer K-9 Draco of the Gwinnett County Police Department in his individual capacity.?
The lawsuit, alleging excessive use of force, said Draco ?viciously mauled? Jones, ?tearing his flesh and permanently injuring and disfiguring him, while ? officers stood by and failed to intervene.?
When a federal judge rejected Gwinnett?s initial attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, the county appealed. On Friday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw out the case against Draco.
?We hold that a dog may not be sued individually for negligence since a dog is not a ?person,?? Judge Robin Rosenbaum wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. Georgia law, she noted, does not allow such claims to be litigated against dogs.
The mere notion of allowing a lawsuit against a dog raises abundant practical issues, Rosenbaum added. How would you formally serve the lawsuit on a dog? What about the dog?s retention of legal representation? How can a dog be expected to pay damages?
Draco, a Belgian Malinois, retired from the K-9 unit in mid-2014 after seven years on the force, helping officers track down suspects and find stashes of illegal drugs.
In her opinion, Judge Rosenbaum wrote that the dog?s name has long been associated with notorious characters. This includes Draco, the legislator of ancient Greece whose harsh legal code inspired the word ?draconian.? Then there?s Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter?s malevolent rival in the popular literary series, the judge noted. Because of what happened to Jones during his arrest, Rosenbaum wrote, ?And to the list of infamous Dracos, add defendant-appellant Draco.?
He?s not so infamous, say Draco?s fellow officers.
?He?s an amazing animal,? Gwinnett police spokeswoman Michelle Pihera said. ?His K-9 handler thought the world of him.?
The 11th Circuit decision also dismissed Jones? claims against three police officers at the scene. The court did not address one remaining claim ? that the county failed to properly train its police force, which played a role in Jones? injuries.
Gwinnett?s police department does not comment on ongoing litigation, Pihera said.
Jones, 43, of Flowery Branch, was charged with breaking into his ex-girlfriend?s apartment in Buford and taking her TV, Playstation 3, camera and iPod Touch. The woman said she called police after arriving home and seeing Jones walk off with her TV near the apartments? pool. An officer who arrived at the scene said he saw Jones jump a fence and head down a ravine near a retention pond, a police report said.
When he didn?t surrender, Jones was warned that Draco would be released, the report said. When Draco eventually found Jones, he bit him on the upper left arm. Police found an iPod Touch, a Wi-Fi adapter and a TV remote in Jones? pockets and soon located the other missing items, the report said.
In August 2014, Jones pleaded guilty to burglary and obstruction and was sentenced to 10 years on probation and one year in confinement.
Comments
Interesting as assault on a police k-9 is considered assault on an officer in some places. I'm not saying the man was correct to sue a dog as that is insane, it's just a point for me to make that punching a k-9 cop dog is not assault on a police officer, it's just what it is, assaulting a dog.
Not really, he's trained in law-enforcement. If he attacks A suspect then refuses to release his hold when his superior officers tells him to, he could be kicked off the force just like a human police officer. He could be shot in the line of duty just like a human police officer. The judge was just saying that the dog has no visible signs of income so how can you sue him and win any monetary compensation from the k-9 police officer himself.
Suing a canine police officer is about as ridiculous as suing a homeless person, what are you going to win from a homeless person? Half of the uneaten food the bum digs out of a dumpster?
1. Carlotta Liebenstein
Little did the countess know that when she left her German Shepherd, Gunther III, $80 million, he would play it smart and invest it, turning the inheritance into a whopping $372 million. In 2000, his alleged son, Gunther IV, bought Madonna?s Miami mansion for $7.5 million.
Way to go Gunther III [:D]
http://iheartdogs.com/the-5-richest-dogs-in-the-world/