Cops Love Shooting Dogs

Modesto pays $120K to settle lawsuit over warrant-less search of home - Featured Stories - Modbee.com:

'via Blog this'

“Justice was served in this case,” said Livermore attorney Sanjay S. Schmidt, who represented Letona and her two daughters.

City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood provided this statement by email:

“The City chose to settle the subject civil actions after conducting a cost/benefit analysis of pursuing further litigation in each case.

“The City did not admit any fault or wrongdoing on the part of any defendant in either action, and each settlement was the settlement of a disputed claim.”

The lawsuit was filed in May in federal court. The city did not file a response in which it could challenge the claims made against the officers. Court records show a response was not filed because attorneys for the city and the women expected to reach a settlement.

Letona will receive $70,000 and her two daughters $25,000 each, according to city records. They will have to pay attorney fees from their settlements.

The lawsuit names officers Brian Ferguson, Benjamin Kroutil, Jonathan Griffith and Ben Brandvold and Sgt. Daniel Key as defendants.

The incident took place April 5, 2011, at the family’s Grouse Crossing Way home in northeast Modesto. Banuelos had her 9-month-old baby with her during the incident and Natalie Letona was pregnant.

According to the lawsuit, a DigitalDog driver tried to repossess Letona’s Mitsubishi Galant. Letona told the driver there was a mistake and she did not owe money on the car.

The tow truck driver then requested help from police. The officers arrived and entered the home without permission and asked for the keys to the car. Rosa Letona called 911 and pleaded with dispatchers to send someone to help her. She requested to speak to a lieutenant or the officers’ supervisor. The lawsuit says dispatchers told her not to call 911 again.

The lawsuit says officers twisted Letona’s arm behind her back, pushed her and handcuffed her and put her in the back of a hot police car after she tried to stop officers from entering the garage. The lawsuit says at one point one officer drew his gun and threatened to shoot the family’s dogs, which were in the garage, if family members did not secure them.