Surveillance camera footage showing police dogs biting a Margate man after he led authorities on a high-speed chase supports his claims that he's a victim of excessive force, his attorneys said Friday.
John Barton, 40, lost about two liters of blood and needed more than 600 stitches after three Broward Sheriff's Office K-9s were used to arrest him April 20 following a harried police pursuit through six cities.
A Deerfield Beach Fire Rescue supervisor who saw Barton's injuries described them in court documents as the most severe he's ever seen for someone bitten by a police dog.
The Broward Sheriff's Office has an open Internal Affairs investigation related to the Barton case and the inquiry is now under review by the State Attorney's Office, said Liz Calzadilla, a Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.
A car dealership's security camera captured Barton's arrest in the 100 block of NW 12th Avenue in Deerfield Beach. His criminal defense attorney played the video for the media Friday.
The footage shows two dogs going into Barton's Toyota MR2 after the vehicle breaks down. Once he's out of the car and chest-down on the pavement, one of the dogs stays on top of him and a third dog clamps down on the woodworker's left Achilles tendon. It appears a dog then tears away a chunk of flesh from Barton's right arm.
"What these sheriff's deputies did was totally egregious and uncalled for," said Wayne Koppel, Barton's civil attorney.
"His vehicle had broken down and he was attempting to surrender when he was attacked by not one, not two, but three police dogs and he suffered very serious injuries."
Barton ended up spending nine days in the hospital, the first four days in intensive care, said Russell Williams, Barton's defense attorney.
The chase began after Barton accidentally dropped a bag of cocaine in front of a Margate police sergeant as the two were in line at a convenience store, according to police reports. When the sergeant tried to detain Barton, the 300-pound man ran to his car and drove away as the sergeant scrambled to pull the keys from the ignition, police reports state.
Barton then led police through Margate, Coral Springs, Tamarac, Coconut Creek, Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach in a chase lasting more than 25 minutes, according to police reports. By the time his car overheated, the video shows at least a dozen police vehicles behind him.
Williams said Barton is set to plead no contest January 21 to fleeing and cocaine possession charges, agreeing to serve no more than six months in the Broward County Jail followed by three years' probation.
Prosecutors have already dismissed two counts of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer against Barton arising from the actual chase.
Jon Burstein can be reached at jburstein@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4491.
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