City Council settles dog attack lawsuit, finalizes parking ordinance amendments

Dean Hensley, Hendersonville Times-News
·3 min read
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Hendersonville Police.
Hendersonville Police.

HENDERSONVILLE - Near the end of a more than three-hour Hendersonville City Council meeting on March 2, Hendersonville City Manager John Connet announced the city had settled a lawsuit against Kevin and Mary O'Neill, who sued the city after Kevin O'Neill was brutally attacked by an off-duty Hendersonville Police Department canine at his home in August of 2020.

The canine was handled by Sgt. Robert Cantwell, who lives next to the O'Neills.

Connet said the city ended up settling the case with the help of its insurance company for the amount of $1.75 million. He made the announcement during his presentation of a resolution for Mayor Barbara Volk to enter into a contract with the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police to do a study about why the "tragic incident happened and how to keep it from happening again," he said.

According to the lawsuit filed on Nov. 1, 2022 by attorney John McCabe, the canine, Sunny, got away from Cantwell on Aug. 2, 2020, and ran into the O'Neills' yard and attacked Kevin O'Neill, who suffered several injuries, including a severe eye injury. The lawsuit said that following the attack, the O'Neills were both diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

"We also issued a very sincere apology to the O'Neills," Connet said. "Now that the case has been settled, (Hendersonville Police) Chief Blair Myhand and Mrs. Beeker and I sat down and had a conversation about what are the next steps to prevent something like this from ever happening again and really look at the details to what led to the incident.

More:Victims of 2020 police K-9 attack file lawsuit against Hendersonville, Cantwell

"So we are bringing a proposal to you to have a contract with the NC Association of Chiefs of Police to come in and do a deep dive review of the incident and everything that led up to the incident to generate a report that we can present to the City Council. Some will be public record, and some of it will not. We'd like to engage the former Chief of Police of Hickory through the Association as well as two other canine experts."

Councilman Jerry Smith responded with, "As far as the aftermath of the incident, is the study going to look into the day after this happened? So it won't look at what's happened since then but what should've happened the day after?"

Connet replied, "Yes."

The resolution was unanimously adopted.

At the close of the meeting, city council finalized the parking ordinance amendments, which allowed the new downtown parking kiosks and the new parking deck to go live at 4 a.m. March 3. Listed below are the final adopted parking fees, fines and penalties.

Parking Fees, Fines and Penalties

  • All Other Parking Violations C.O. 50: $50

  • Construction parking permit (per day): $15

  • Crosswalk: $50

  • Fire lane: $100

  • Fire hydrant: $100

  • Habitual Offender (three tickets or more in 30 days): $100

  • Handicapped: $250

  • Loading Zone/15-minute parking: $50

  • Lost Ticket Fee (Parking Deck): $20

  • Lost/Replacement/Second Parking Deck Puck $25

  • Monthly Parking Space - Deck Permit: $80

  • Monthly Parking Space - Interior Lot Permit $60

  • Monthly Parking Space - Exterior Lot Permit: $25

  • Overtime/Expired Meter: $50

  • Parking Meter - Surface Lots and Decks (per hour): $1.50 ($10 max per parking session)

  • Parking Meter - Main St. and Avenues (per hour): $2

  • Penalty After 30 Days Additional: $100

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: City Council settles dog attack lawsuit, finalizes parking ordinance amendments