Elliott Riches Kuha vs.

City of Minnnetonka Facts Kuha had consumed several alcoholic beverages at a party then left to drive home. During the drive he drove into a curb damaging his tire. He and a friend changed the tire and Kuha continued home. On his drive he failed to dim his lights when a car was coming from the opposite direction. The police officer pulled Kuha over. At this time Kuha ran from the car claiming he thought he might have been over the legal alcohol limit. The officer called for backup and a K-9 unit arrived. The dog was trained to bite suspects and then hold them until told to release. The dog alerted after several minutes of chase and was released by the officers. HE bit Kuhas upper leg. The officers then could hear Kuha screaming and found him. Kuha was attempting to push the dogs head away from him and was instructed that the dog would not be called off until Kuha let go of the dog. He did and the officers noticed he was bleeding very severely. He was then taken to the hospital. History Kuha filed suit against the officers and the city of Minnetonka for excessive force. The court of appeals reversed in part and affirmed in part. Issue Is failure to give verbal warning of dog enough to provide for an excessive force suit. Holding Yes Reasoning Courts have already rejected the idea that a police dog is a deadly force. However, it is necessary to give suspects a chance to peacefully surrender before releasing a police dog. This circumstances may have been different if the officer had seen a weapon or if the dog was trained in find and bark instead of bite and hold.