Crime & Safety

Vallejo Man Receives Police Brutality Settlement

A Vallejo man who was seriously injured during a police arrest at his apartment five years ago has received a $4.15 million settlement from the city, his lawyers announced today.

By Bay City News Service

A Vallejo man who was seriously injured during a police arrest at
his apartment five years ago has received a $4.15 million settlement from the
city, his lawyers announced today.
          Vallejo's settlement with Macario Dagdagan ends a federal civil
rights lawsuit in which Dagdagan claimed two officers illegally entered his
apartment without a warrant and used excessive force in arresting him while
investigating a complaint of an assault on his girlfriend.
          Dagdagan suffered dislodged vertebrae, a ruptured disk and a
broken neck -- injuries that resulted in permanent spinal damage, according
to one of his attorneys, Todd Boley.
          The injuries apparently occurred after the two officers shot
Dagdagan twice with a stun gun and handcuffed him, and were trying to
restrain him from getting up from a chair, Boley said.
          Dagdagan was initially paralyzed by the broken neck, but after
emergency surgery he eventually recovered the ability to walk, although with
a limp, the attorney said. Boley said Dagdagan, a Vietnam veteran, remains in
constant pain and has been unable to resume work as a machinist.
           Peter Alfert, another attorney for Dagdagan, said, "The police
had no justification for going into the apartment, for arresting Macario, and
certainly no reason to break his neck.
          "Through this settlement, he wants to send a clear message that
all of us must not tolerate police misconduct and we will hold police
accountable," Alfert said.
          Dagdagan received the $4.15 million settlement check last week and
the case was dismissed in federal court in Sacramento on Tuesday, Boley said.
The settlement will be paid by the city's insurance.
          The city did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.
          Lawyers for Vallejo were not immediately available for comment
today.
          In court filings, lawyers for the city agreed that Dagdagan was
shot with a Taser stun gun and handcuffed, and was taken away in an
ambulance, but argued that the officers used only the force necessary to
subdue him and were justified in entering his home.
          They said the officers entered the apartment without a warrant
because there were signs of a possible burglary in progress, including a door
left open, a stove left on, rice scattered on the floor and no response when
they yelled into the apartment.
          The officers found Dagdagan lying in his bed, showing "signs of
alcohol intoxication," the attorneys said in court papers.
          In a key ruling in the case, a federal appeals court in San
Francisco last year turned down the city's bid to dismiss the lawsuit.
          The appeals court, upholding a similar ruling by U.S. District
Judge Garland Burrell of Sacramento, said that under the facts alleged in the
lawsuit, the officers should have obtained a warrant because there was no
emergency situation.
          The appeals court said that, according to the lawsuit, the
officers had already interviewed the alleged victim at her home before coming
to Dagdagan's apartment, and knew that she was safe at her home.
          The court said, "No emergency or exigency justified the officers'
flagrant invasions of clearly established constitutional rights."
          Boley said Dagdagan was charged with assault on his girlfriend,
but the charge was later dropped by Solano County prosecutors.
          The attorney said the two officers, John Boyd and Jason Wentz, now
work for the Richmond Police Department.


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