Two men allege they were attacked by police dogs while complying with arrests in Lee County last summer.
The men filed separate excessive force lawsuits in federal court alleging they were lying on the ground in compliance with the Lee County Sheriff’s Officer when deputies released or prompted the dogs to attack.
One man, James Raden, said he was bitten repeatedly on his shoulder and tricep and broke his hand while complying with officers in his backyard on the night of June 12, 2024.
“No attempt was made by either Sergeant Crisp nor Deputy Fleming to stop the dog from violently and savagely attacking Mr. Raden until after the aforementioned injuries were already sustained,” states an amended lawsuit complaint filed in federal court last year. The suit was filed in July of 2024.
Sgt. Lee Crisp and Deputy Virgil Fleming are defendants in the case. Both men have filed motions to dismiss the suit, claiming qualified immunity. Their attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“Defendant submits that Plaintiff has failed to state a plausible claim against him,” said Crisp’s filing last year.
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said the department is not able to comment on the lawsuits. An attorney for the two men, Ramon Martin, did not respond to a request for comment.
Raden’s lawsuit alleges he was in his backyard when he saw what looked like a police officer’s spotlight in his driveway. The officers were there to arrest him for an outstanding warrant, according to the suit.
As the officers approached Raden, who was not armed, he voluntarily got down on the ground with his palms open and his hands up, according to the suit. The K9 officer, Fleming, dropped the dog’s leash as Raden laid on the ground. The suit alleges the officer released the dog, believed to be a German Shepard, without cause or warning.
“The police dog attacked Mr. Raden, first biting him repeatedly on his shoulder and tricep as he writhed in pain, and then in an attempt to escape the dog’s grip, Mr. Raden rolled onto his side, and the dog attacked his other tricep,” the lawsuit says.
The suit alleges that neither officer intervened. It alleges that Raden was taken to a local hospital for stitches after the attack and kept in a medical unit at the local jail for a week. It alleges he was denied further medical care for two weeks despite complaining of pain and numbness.
[Read our series Mauled: When police dogs are weapons]
A second excessive force case involving the department’s use of a K9 last June was dismissed by a federal judge last month.
That federal lawsuit, filed by William Norton in August of last year, alleges Norton was repeatedly bitten on his right thigh, while lying handcuffed on the ground, after Lee County deputies prompted the K9 to attack him. Norton alleges he had to get stitches in his leg and continued to feel numbness and a lack of feeling from the wounds.
The case, brought against a Deputy Dylan Eller and Corporal Josh Walton, alleged that on June 19, officers came to arrest Norton for an outstanding warrant in an abandoned mobile home.
According to the complaint, Norton heard the officers say they were sending a K9, named Astro, inside to find him if he did not leave the home. Norton, who was not armed, yelled to the officers, pleading with them not to send the dog in and that he would surrender, according to the suit.
The officers put Norton in handcuffs, face down, on the ground, according to the suit, before one of them spoke a word Norton did not recognize and Astro began to attack him, biting him repeatedly on his thigh.
“Corporal Walton released the police dog on Mr. Norton without justifiable cause and without giving any warning that he intended to release the dog upon Mr. Norton after Mr. Norton had already submitted to the officers,” the complaint alleged. It also alleged that Deputy Eller failed to intervene.
In February, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelly Fitzgerald Pate dismissed the lawsuit against the deputies, ruling that they had immunity because they were acting within the scope of their duty.
“Under established Eleventh Circuit precedent, Norton has pleaded facts that plausibly allege a constitutional violation occurred,” Pate ruled, but previous court rulings have not clearly established that the kind events Norton alleged would be a violation.
The judge also ruled that Norton had not established proof that Eller failed to intervene.
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