Summary
The city of Brentwood, California, will pay $967,000 to Talmika Bates to settle a lawsuit over excessive force after a police K-9 tore her scalp during a 2020 arrest for alleged shoplifting.
Bates, who sustained severe injuries, including traumatic brain injury and PTSD, was unarmed and hiding when the dog bit her head.
A federal judge previously limited the officer’s qualified immunity, deeming the prolonged dog attack potentially excessive force.
The city settled to avoid litigation costs, and the police department currently has no active K-9 units.
It’s not meant to make her set for life, it’s meant to compensate her for medical care (plus some punitive damages).
Thank you. Damages doesn’t mean “You never have to work again in your life”.
I don’t mean to be callous and obviously what happened to this woman was horrible. She probably deserves more but $1 million is still an amount of money it might take 20 years to generate on a normal income.