Richmond -- Relatives of a Richmond boy mauled by a police dog praised a jury award of $400,000 but said yesterday that the 6-year-old still fears dogs and police officers nearly four years after the attack.
A Contra Costa County Superior Court jury ordered the city last week to compensate Adam Corona for the attack in his backyard in October 1997 by a 60- pound Belgian Malinois named Marco.
The jury's verdict ended a bitter legal battle in which Adam's family accused city officials of being insensitive and playing down the assault that seriously injured the boy. The boy's family says he still suffers from psychological and speech problems.
"We're happy it's over," Adam's grandmother and guardian, Rebecca Quioz, said. "They did not treat us right. Instead of being compassionate, they were mean."
The dog, who was later removed from the city's police canine group and shipped back to the Netherlands, bit 3-year-old Adam in the back, scraped his face and whipped him back and forth.
Marco had been involved in another incident a year earlier, in May 1996, in which the dog pawed a 3-year-old Vacaville boy, causing a scratch and a bump on his head.
Quiroz said yesterday that the attack in Richmond still haunts her grandson. "Every time he sees a policeman or a police car he thinks the incident will repeat itself," she said.
Austin Gibbons, an attorney who represented Richmond, denied that the City ignored the boy's injuries. Gibbons said city officials wanted to settle the case but that the family had demanded as much as $10 million.
"They were totally uncooperative," he said. "The city tried to settle the case, but they chose to bring the case before a jury and exaggerate the injury. "
Richmond Mayor Rosemary Corbin said yesterday that officials "felt terrible about the boy's injuries and we took responsibility." She said the City Council has not decided whether to appeal the verdict.
The attack on Adam occurred about 3 p.m. on Oct. 15, 1997, when the dog escaped from a patrol car with a defective latch on its right rear door while officers attended to a motorist.
Marco wandered into an apartment building where Adam's family lived and attacked the boy. His aunt, Estella Villanueva, tried to grab the dog, but it attacked her, too.
"Estella jumped in but the dog would not release him," said Quiroz, who saw the incident. "He wanted to kill somebody. It was just a horrible incident."
But the city's attorney said the family tried to make Adam's injuries appear worse. He said they tried to blame the boy's speech and developmental problems on the attack, which he suggested might have been caused in part by the boy's mother's drug use.
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