A Shoreview teacher who needed more than 200 stitches after she was repeatedly bitten by a police dog as she tried to turn off a false alarm will receive $200,000 to settle a lawsuit.
"It was a horrific experience ... a mauling by an animal," said Mary Santelman, who suffered injuries to her legs. She said Friday that she is still dealing with the emotional effect of the attack.
"Her injuries were significant. It was an unfortunate incident. (But) everyone was doing what they thought was the right thing," Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said.
The North Oaks woman drove to Oak Hill Montessori School to shut off an alarm on Jan. 10, 2004. Santelman and Deputy Ginger Kell gave different accounts of whether the deputy told the teacher to stay outside while deputies searched the school.
But Santelman's attorney, Robert Bennett, said there is no dispute that the deputies did not tell Santelman they had a dog.
While the deputies began searching the building, Santelman went inside and tried to turn off the alarm. When that failed, she went deeper inside to call school staff members. But Deputy Gary Pearl had unleashed his police dog, a 100-pound German shepherd, who found Santelman standing behind a desk and attacked her.
The dog is no longer working, the sheriff said.
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