An Albuquerque police officer is on trial a third time on accusations that he used excessive force when he unleashed his police dog — this time on a 16-year-old girl.
Moriah Smith, now 19, is suing the city and veteran officer Andrew Lehocky for an unspecific amount of damages stemming from a bite she sustained when the dog attacked her in 1999.
Thursday began the third federal trial since August naming Lehocky as a defendant. The two previous trials ended in Lehocky's favor.
In opening arguments, Smith's lawyer, Brad Hall, said his client posed no threat to police or the surrounding neighborhood when Lehocky sent Bart, his Belgian Malinois, to find her on the grounds of John Baker Elementary School in the early-morning hours Feb. 26, 1999.
Police had been called to the area after a male youth fired a gun near a group of teens.
Hall said Smith had been with the shooter and several others earlier that morning and witnessed the shooting. When police arrived, she hid on the school grounds.
Another officer told Lehocky he saw a person or persons running across school property, and Lehocky sent the dog after them. That's when Bart found and attacked Smith in the bushes.
Police later charged her with misdemeanor criminal trespass, according to police reports.
Luis Robles, a private attorney defending Lehocky, said Smith was deemed to be an "accomplice" of the boy who was thought to have shot the gun.
Officers did not find the shooter or the gun involved, the reports said.
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