Clovis facing lawsuit after man says police dog bit him ‘so deep you can see his bone’
Related report: Clovis police chief defends officers after man files excessive force lawsuit over dog bite
A 28-year-old man who alleges he was left with permanent injuries after being attacked by a Clovis police dog is suing the city.
Jamal Jones of Fresno alleges he was racially profiled, attacked with excessive force and unlawfully stopped on May 3, 2021. He is seeking damages for injuries, loss of wages and emotional distress.
Jones, a construction worker, recounted the events that night while speaking at a press conference Thursday outside of the Robert E. Coyle Federal Building in Fresno. He has filed a 33-page civil rights lawsuit in federal court.
According to Jones and his lawyers, he had just dropped off a relative in Clovis and was on his way home on Ashlan Avenue, just west of the Highway 168 off ramp. That’s when a Clovis police officer pulled him over.
Attorney Rodney Diggs, of IMW in Los Angeles, said the officer told Jones he pulled him over because the tinting on his windows was too dark.
In the body cam footage, provided by Jones’s attorneys, you can see three officers in and around Jones’s sedan, asking him not to reach for what appears to be a handgun tucked on side of the driver’s seat.
“Don’t reach or you are going to get shot,” one of the officers said on the video footage.
Jones responds by saying, “I am not reaching for anything sir, what are you talking about.“
One of the officers removes the gun a few seconds before Jones attempts to get out of the car. But he has difficulty getting out because the seat belt is still hooked.
The officers order him to stop resisting, but Jones appears to be tangled in the seat belt as the officers try to pull him away from the car.
One of the officers continued to tell Jones to stop resisting and Jones responded with “I am not resisting.”
One of the officers applies a Taser to the side of Jones’s body as another officer rushes to his vehicle to retrieve a police dog.
As the dog approaches, Jones is already on the ground. The officer yelled, “You are going to get bit,” the footage shows.
The dog proceeded to clamp down on Jones’s leg and shake it violently.
Diggs alleges the use of the police dog was extremely excessive and unwarranted. He said Jones was complying with officers.
“But the dog still attacks him and begins ripping flesh from his leg,” Diggs said.
James Bryant of the Cochran Law Firm in Los Angeles, who is also representing Jones, accused the Clovis Police officers of using a pretext — the heavily tinted windows — to stop Jones as he drove through Clovis. He said police had no reasonable suspicion to stop him.
“We really know what this is,” Bryant said. “He was Black. He was a Black man driving on the road that night and the officer said in his mind, here is a suspicious looking individual.”
To prove the racial bias by police, Bryant said one of the officers said to Jones as he was being treated at the hospital: “Your caramel skin must have tasted so good because that dog really ate you up well.”
Bryant said the injuries to Jones’s leg were so severe that he may not be able to walk again or work in construction.
Asked what was going through his mind when he was the ground with police on him. “I just didn’t want to lose my life that night,” Jones said.
Jones is being represented by attorneys Diggs, Bryant and Stuart Chandler of the Chandler Law firm in Fresno.
As a result of May 3 incident, Jones was charged with three felonies:, possession of a firearm by a felon, carrying a loaded firearm in public, and having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of resisting public or peace officer.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Clovis Police Department held its own press conference Thursday, challenging the allegations made by Jones and his attorney’s.
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 9:58 AM.
