Supreme Court Says Dog Bite Laws Apply To K-9s

Feb 10, 2005 3:53 pm US/Central

St. Paul (AP) A state law allowing dog bite victims to sue for damages applies to police dogs, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, reversing a decision by the state Court of Appeals.

But the ruling didn't settle whether Lena Hyatt's lawsuit against the Anoka Police Department could go to trial.

The high court sent the case back to the appeals court to decide the city's claim that it is immune from such lawsuits against its police department. If the appeals court decides the city is not immune, a trial court would then have to decide whether officers used reasonable force in the incident.

In 2002, officers went to a barn in St. Francis where Hyatt and her husband, Andrew Hyatt, were living to arrest him on drug and other charges.

After Andrew Hyatt allegedly resisted arrest and tried to flee, an Anoka police officer released his dog, "Chips." But instead of pursuing Andrew Hyatt, the dog took down Lena Hyatt, who another officer thought might have been shielding her husband. She suffered a 2-inch cut on her right elbow and a 5-inch cut on her right knee.

An Anoka County judge ruled that nothing in the dog bite law exempts police dogs. The appeals court reversed that, saying that not giving special consideration to police dogs would hamper officers from using them.

But the Supreme Court said that while there might be "good policy reasons" to exempt police dogs, the law as written does not do so. The high court left it to the lower courts to resolve whether the police department was legally immune and, if necessary, whether police used reasonable force.