By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
An appeals court ruled in favor of Thurston County yesterday, regarding an incident in late 2010 in which its police dog bit a Tumwater officer in the testicle during a search in a darkened building for a burglary suspect.
According to Thurston Deputy Rod Ditrich, K-9 Rex thought Tumwater Officer Bryent Finch was a threat when Finch shouted at the suspect to show his hands, at the same time Ditrich was calling Rex to come back to him.
The two men were standing next to each other.
Finch drove himself to the hospital, underwent surgery and then on June 6, 2012 filed suit against the county, the sheriff’s office, the deputy and the deputy’s wife, according to court documents.
A judge hearing the case in Mason County Superior Court granted a summary judgement to the respondents dismissing the strict liability claim. Finch, and his wife Patricia Finch appealed.
The opinion issued yesterday by the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division II, held the legislature abolished strict liability claims for injuries from lawfully used police dogs, even though the police dog exemption didn’t go into effect until the day after Finch’s suit was filed.
The Finches initially also claimed negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress, but had dismissed those two portions after the Mason County decision, according to court documents. Deputy Ditrich and his wife are immune from civil liability under a statute regarding police dog handlers acting in good faith, according to the appeals court.
The three-member panel was unanimous.
•••
For background, read “Read about police dog bites police man in groin in Thurston County …” from Friday November 19, 2010, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Wow, that dog really has cojones. They’re just not his.
Yes, dogs are considered “police officers” and can be sued as such. What bothers me is that one needs to abuse dogs in order to teach them to be violent against people.
As long as you keep using abuse to teach dogs how to do “police work”, there will continue to be people bitten for no reason, and this includes children, fellow officers, and whomever else is unlucky enough to cross the dog’s path.
he sued the dog?
Wives are often included in law suits because the affected parties cannot “fulfill their matrimonial duties” meaning sex. Can you imagine? My husband cannot have sex because a dog bit his ball? I want money…Wait money for sex…isn”t that …..oh let it go. ha ha
The dog probably didn’t like city cops. I guess it would really hurt to have a German shepherd clamp down on the old family jewelry:)
Maybe the handlers wife could have “nurtured” him….hahaha
That’s NUTS!!!!
“June 6, 2012 filed suit against the county, the sheriff’s office, the deputy and the deputy’s wife,…”
The wife? Is that because it is a community property state and he was going after their money? Or is she somehow otherwise involved?
When I see something like this, I have to wonder if it could have been solved if someone had just offered a sincere, heartfelt apology.