A police dog bit an unarmed Texas woman for 62 seconds. A federal judge dismissed her excessive force lawsuit.
A federal judge ruled it was not “unreasonable” for a police officer to use a patrol dog on an unarmed Texas woman who suffered significant injuries after the animal bit her for roughly 62 seconds, court documents show.
A federal judge ruled that it was not “unreasonable” for a police officer to use a patrol dog on an unarmed Texas woman who suffered significant injuries after the animal bit her for roughly 62 seconds, court documents show.
The decision, filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Houston and first reported by NBC News, dismissed an excessive force lawsuit filed in April 2020 over the July 5, 2018, incident in Conroe, north of Houston.
The encounter was recorded in body camera video that showed the dog, Thor, repeatedly biting Olivia Sligh, 29, as his handler appeared to shout release commands that were not obeyed.
In an interview this week, Sligh said the incident left her with more than a dozen scars, herniated discs and questions about how officers responded to a 911 call from her boyfriend, who reported that she was suicidal and had cut herself after a change in medication.
“What they should have done is treated me like a mentally ill person, and not like I just shot somebody,” she said. “That’s how I feel I got treated.”
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