A settlement hearing scheduled for this morning could head off next week's trial involving allegations Easton police officers used excessive force with a police dog while apprehending a suspect five years ago.
Attorneys on both sides agreed to a negotiating session before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arnold Rapoport in Allentown to discuss a possible out-of-court resolution to Keith A. Rosenberg's federal lawsuit.
Rosenberg, of Easton, alleged in the lawsuit, filed by attorney John P. Karoly Jr. of Allentown, that Sgt. Michael Vangelo's police dog ''Bere'' attacked after Rosenberg was subdued and handcuffed.
The attorney hired by Easton's insurance company to defend against the lawsuit has said the city would disprove the claim Rosenberg was handcuffed and show that officers followed procedures to apprehend him.
In addition to the city, Rosenberg is suing Vangelo and his supervisors, the former captain of the K-9 dog unit, Lt. Douglas Schlegel; former Police Chief Larry Palmer and former Mayor Thomas F. Goldsmith.
Dominick Marraccini, who is president of the Fraternal Order of Police Washington Lodge 17, the labor union for Easton police, said the officers do not want to see the case settled out of court.
''Our position on that is it sends a bad message out there that any time you sue the police department, it's going to settle,'' Marraccini said. ''We would prefer they go to trial because the officers involved didn't do anything wrong.''
Karoly said the negotiations may or may not circumvent a trial.
''It's another one of those situations where if they come up enough and we come down enough it will be resolved,'' Karoly said Tuesday. '' the parties have gone the extra step of having a magistrate judge negotiate the settlement.''
Karoly reached settlements totaling nearly $10 million with Easton and Bethlehem after trials alleging police had used excessive force in separate incidents in 1997.
Bethlehem last month agreed to a nearly $8 million settlement in a suit Karoly filed over the death of John Hirko Jr., who was killed by police during a 1997 drug raid.
Karoly also represented one of three plaintiffs who sued Easton after allegedly being assaulted by police officers or their dogs on the Delaware River bridge on Route 22 after a high school football game. The trial ended in a $1.3 million verdict last May, but the city's insurance company negotiated a post-trial settlement of $1.9 million to avoid appeals.
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