An Alexandria police officer let his dog maul a 27-year-old city man without provocation, according to a lawsuit filed against the officer and the city.
The suit, filed June 26 in Alexandria Circuit Court, claims that Arlex Paz was standing in front of his home about 12:15 a.m. June 29, 2001, when Officer Todd Branson let his dog loose on him without saying a word.
Branson allegedly drove up to the home at 426 E. Glendale Ave., stopped his car and without saying anything to Paz, released his dog, Swifty.
The dog ``viciously mauled and bit [Paz] several times on his leg causing serious injury and permanent disfigurement," according to the suit, which is seeking $2 million combined from the city and Branson.
Amy Bertsch, Police Department spokeswoman, would not comment on the suit because it is pending litigation. City Attorney Ignacio Pessoa did not return calls seeking comment.
Branson allegedly watched the dog as it continued to bite Paz. He then placed handcuffs on him as the dog bit him, all while Paz was lying with his face to the ground, according to the suit.
``It looks like a shark took a bite out of his thigh," his attorney, Benjamin Pelton, said Thursday. ``It's a horrible, horrible injury."
Since the injury, Paz walks with a limp and has suffered permanent disfigurement, said Sean O'Malie, his other attorney.
Paz did not have a weapon, resist arrest, assault or threaten Branson, and was not a threat to the safety of himself or others, according to the suit. Paz spent 10 days in the hospital and underwent surgery on his leg, his attorneys said.
Police were called earlier that night to the Del Ray neighborhood when a resident of the 500 block of East Luray Avenue complained that a man tried to enter his home, according to Alexandria District Court records. The home is about 1 blocks away from where Paz was bitten.
Paz later was charged with peeping and attempted burglary. The latter charge was subsequently dropped by prosecutors. He was convicted Sept. 21 by a jury of peeping and sentenced to 20 days in prison, according to court records.
Charlie Mason, who has lived at the Luray Avenue home since 1998, said he had called police on two previous occasions when he and his sister saw a man looking in their window.
The night Paz was bitten, Mason said, his sister called police and woke him up when she heard someone at the window. Mason looked out his bedroom window and saw a man who looked like Paz run back and forth outside. A few minutes later, he saw an officer with a dog run by, he said.
An officer came to the house shortly afterward and brought Mason to the Glendale home, where he identified Paz as the man in his window.
``I had seen him around the neighborhood and I recognized him," Mason said. ``I even talked to him once when I found him standing on our back porch. It was all very odd."
Mason said he saw that Paz had been injured by the dog, but that the bite ``didn't actually look bad."
The suit is not about the peeping conviction, Pelton said. ``It's about police using excessive force. It would be like the Police Department shooting the guy for being a peeping Tom."
Pelton said independent witnesses can confirm Paz was standing in front of his home at the time of the bite, not trying to run away.
``He was just standing there in front of the house," he said. ``The dog was continuing to maul him and the officer didn't do anything."
According to the city's police directive, canines can be used to apprehend suspects in felony and misdemeanor cases where officer safety is a concern or there are no other means to apprehend the suspect.
Before letting a dog loose, officers are to give a loud, clear verbal warning of their intent to release the dog. The only exception is if an officer has a reasonable belief a warning will jeopardize the safety of the officer, a citizen, another officer or the dog, according to the policy.
Dogs also are to be commanded to let go as soon as the suspect is subdued or readily complies with the officer, the policy states.
Branson is in his 10th year of service on the city's Police Department and has won two valor awards for acts of bravery in the line of duty.
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