ALBUQUERQUE - An Albuquerque police officer did not use excessive force when he unleashed a police dog on a woman he mistakenly thought had been involved in a burglary, a federal court jury has ruled.
Marlo Marquez, 22, said she was injured after officer Andrew Lehocky ordered a police dog to catch her when she got out of a car during a police chase on Aug. 10, 1999. She was seeking $250,000 in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages.
Lehocky said he ordered Marquez and another person he considered a suspect in the burglary to stop moving, but they did not. That's when he released the dog, he said.
The seven-person jury deliberated for more than two days before attorneys agreed Wednesday to compromise and accept the finding of six members of the seven-person jury who voted in favor of the officer.
"There was one person holding out," said Lehocky's lawyer, Luis Robles.
Marquez's attorney, Sam Bregman, said he might appeal.
"I don't think it's appropriate to let a police dog loose on a person the police officer hasn't even identified," Bregman said.
Two years ago, the city agreed to pay $210,000 to settle another dog-bite case involving Lehocky's dog, a Belgian malinois named Bart. In that case, the attorney claimed his client was asleep on the floor of a vacant apartment when she was attacked by the dog.
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