Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images
A California woman whose scalp was torn by a police dog filed a lawsuit alleging that police officers used excessive force in allowing that the German shepherd mistreat her for several minutes, even after she begged them to stop the animal.
Talmika Bates said she was paralyzed with fear when a K9 officer named “Marco” continued to bite his scalp during a shoplifting arrest on 10 February 2020, according to the complaint filed on Tuesday.
Brentwood Police Officer Ryan Rezentes had to physically remove the dog bite from Bates’s scalp, after that the dog refused to listen to commands l least twice.
The terrifying incident was captured on officers’ body cameras and publicized by Bates’ attorneys. Bates can be heard screaming in a field among some bushes where she was hiding when K-9 caught her and grabbed her by the scalp.
After a few minutes, Marco finally released him and Bates was able to get out of the bushes with the help of officers. His skull was partially exposed, pieces of his scalp and hair were falling on his head.
“My whole brain is bleeding”, he said Bates terrified in the graphic video.
Patrick Buelna, one of Bates’ attorneys, told the New York Post that the only response from officers to her client’s heartbreaking cries for medical assistance was that she “shouldn’t have run away”.
“Talmika says she still has nightmares in which the dog bites her head”, said Buelna.
“She says that she felt that she was going to die that day and she really did not believe that she would live to tell her story, but she is alive and grateful. She had to have her scalp surgically reattached to her head. She suffers from severe depression and remains traumatized by the beating”.
Bates, then of 10 years old, fled from police after she and two other women stole about $10,000 dollars worth of cosmetic products from an Ulta store Beauty Supply.
The women got into a car and fled the scene, but when the police tried to stop them, the suspects ran out of the vehicle.
According to the complaint, Rezentes and the other officers who responded to the robbery did not warn Bates before he released the K-9.
“Officers Rezentes and Lou yelled at Mrs. Bates to get to her feet, an impossible task, as leaves and twigs scraped open her head wounds,” according to the complaint.
“Finally Officer Lou helped Bates to her feet and handcuffed her. The officers reprimanded Mrs. Bates for running from the police as if biting her head off and mutilating her by a vicious canine was a legal and appropriate punishment for her crimes.”
Bates and his attorneys also claim that Rezentes tried to hide details of the incident.
The attorneys said the videos showed another officer assuring Rezentes that he would not shoot the dog. while still holding Bates’s head.
Talmika Bates accused the Brentwood police officers of not being able to take the German Shepherd away from her.
“Officer Rezentes did not mention that Marco was out of control”, according to the complaint.
After his arrest , Bates was transported to a local hospital where surgeons reattached her scalp.
Bates said that since his violent arrest two years ago, he still suffers from headaches, anxiety and often , has nightmares in which the dog bites her scalp.
Talmika Bates said she was paralyzed with fear when a K9 named “Marco ” continued to bite his scalp during a shoplifting arrest on February 2020, according to the complaint filed on Tuesday.
“My whole brain almost fell out,” Bates said in an interview. “I’m supposed to be dead right now, not alive, and I’m just grateful.”
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She added that she feels “ugly” and “no longer pretty” due to her physical injuries.
“I feel miserable and depressed,” said Bates.
Brentwood PD still highlights Marco on their K9 Unit page, which says the German Shepherd is smart, very outgoing, and “would love to be greeted if you see him with Officer Rezentes.”