Federal civil rights lawsuit targets VPD's use of police dogs; officers counter claims

Attorneys for a Visalia family have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing police of unreasonable arrest and detention, excessive use of force, denial of adequate medical care, false arrest and imprisonment, assault and battery, and violation of Constitutional rights.

Police, though, claim the man refused to take his hand out of his pocket, fought back police and tossed trash cans at officers who tried to detain him.

The lawsuit revolves around the violent October 2020 arrest of 21-year-old Jordan Gutierrez by Visalia Police Department. His mother, Yajaida Keys, says she called police to help after her son who experienced a paranoid schizophrenic episode. Keys had been punched by her son prior to calling police, according to dispatcher's who relayed information to officers.

'Na fool'

Police officers' accounts of the incident, obtained by the Times-Delta, paint a dangerous picture for police.

Officer Sean Schiebelhut and his police dog arrived after two officers were already on scene. Schiebelhut says that trash cans had been thrown at officers as they approached Gutierrez who "clinched his fists" and "took a bladed stance."

"They were continuing to struggle with the suspect," Schiebelhut said in his report.

Because Gutierrez wouldn't take his hand out of his pocket, officers say they didn't know if the man was armed with a weapon. The man's mother claims she told police he wasn't armed.

"I advised both officers that if the suspect decides to start fighting, to back away and I would deploy my K-9 partner," Schiebelhut said in his report. "I saw (Gutierrez) begin to walk away, saying something the effect of, 'na fool,' when officer (Austin) Veteto was requesting for him to remove his hands from his pockets."

Lt. Ron Epp said in his account that the man turned away from police "making it difficult to determine if he had any weapons in that pocket."

Schiebelhut says he released his police dog after seeing Epp and Veteto struggle to control Gutierrez. The dog first bit the man's left hip. Schiebelhut says the man continued to resist and because the dog didn't have a good grip, he let go and bit the man's face.

The dog let go before the man was cuffed, Schiebelhut said.

"The suspect immediately complied and the other two officers were able to take him into custody," Schiebelhut said.

Veteto drove Gutierrez to Kaweah Delta Medical Center and both officers escorted the man in for treatment.

Keys, 42, was also detained on suspicion of obstructing and distracting officers during the arrest "compromising officer safety," according to police records. She was later charged with obstructing an officer.

In all, six officers responded to the scene including the lieutenant and a sergeant.

'I couldn't do anything for him'

While Keys claimed in her original call she'd been hit by her son while the pair were driving, she said ultimately she wanted help for her son. She didn't expect the violent altercation that followed.

She recorded the incident. The video was provided by the attorney representing the family.

"I couldn’t do anything for him but stand there and watch him get bit by a dog,” Keys told KSEE-24.

The Keys' family attorney, V. James DeSimone, strongly disputed the officers' account of the arrest.

"It was a brutal misuse of force," DeSimone said. "There's no rational explanation for allowing the dog to bite Mr. Gutierrez while two other officers are holding back his arms. It was a horrific event."

The Visalia Police Department is also facing another lawsuit filed in March over a K-9 mauling of a mentally disabled man. The officers involved in that case are not the same as those involved in Gutierrez’s case.

In light of these two police dog cases, DeSimone has called for an independent investigation into the Visalia Police Department by the California Attorney General’s Office.

"It's about a lack of accountability. Until this type of brutal behavior by police stops being condoned at the highest levels it won't stop," DeSimone said.

DeSimone also claims that Gutierrez didn't fight with police and sobbed as he was being handcuffed. He says that Gutierrez said, "I don't understand," and that Keys continued to tell officers that her son suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He was diagnosed at 17, DeSimone wrote in the lawsuit.

"For approximately two days, the Visalia Police Department left the wounded, traumatized and mentally ill Mr. Gutierrez in a jail facility with nothing to wear except a medical gown, underwear and shoes," DeSimone said.

The Tulare County Sheriff's Department, the agency that runs the jails and provides clothing to inmates, wasn't included in the lawsuit. By law, a suspect can be held for 48 hours at which time they are charged with a crime or released.

Gutierrez was charged on Oct. 20, 2020, with felony evading a police officer.

Chief Jason Salazar, who is named in the lawsuit, said he couldn't comment on the claims. He did speak out about mental illness training, which he says the department hosts with Tulare County Health and Human Services.

“We take our mental health calls very seriously. Our officers are trained above and beyond most other departments in crisis intervention," he said. "We’ve been awarded for our training and I am proud to say most of our officers and dispatchers have all been trained.”

Nearly 90% of the department's frontline workers have been trained, he said. Officers are trained as they join VPD and as classes become available.

The partnership with HHSA began in 2008, Salazar added and is offered to all law enforcement agencies in Tulare County.

Sgt. Mike Short, who helps coordinate those trainings said classes are typically full. While the state doesn't require mental illness training, the department does.

"These trainings give us the ability to look at a call through a different lens," Short said. "It gives us a better understanding of how to approach these calls from a law enforcement standing."

'Difficult to win'

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages to be determined by a jury trial. To read the entire lawsuit, scroll to the bottom of the page.

Salazar said neither the police department or city attorney have been served with the lawsuit, which was filed Monday.

A 2020 investigation by The Marshall Project, the USA TODAY Network and the Invisible Institute found widespread use — and abuse — of dogs in police departments across the U.S.

There’s no national database of police dog use and who is bitten, the investigation found. The report found bites in nearly every state, though data from more than 50 police departments shows the numbers vary widely by city.

While many police agencies say they use dogs only to capture people accused of violent crimes or when officers are in danger, the investigation's review of bites around the country found the dogs are frequently used in minor cases: traffic violations, shoplifting, mental health checks, trespassing and running from police.

Visalia police officers say dogs are only used in cases involving officer safety or safety to the public.

More: ‘Like I was being eaten’: When police dogs bite, no one is accountable

The use of police dogs across the country is also not uniform. Police in Chicago almost never deploy dogs for arrests and had only one incident from 2017 to 2019. Washington, D.C., had five. Seattle had 23. New York City, where policy limits their use mostly to felony cases, reported 25.

By contrast, Indianapolis had more than 220 bites and Los Angeles reported more than 200 bites or dog-related injuries. The Sheriff’s Department in Jacksonville, Florida, had 160 in this period.

Excessive force lawsuits over dog bites are difficult to win, however, the investigation found. Police officers are often shielded from liability, and federal civil rights laws don’t typically cover bystanders who are bitten by mistake. It can also be hard for someone who pleads guilty or gets convicted of resisting arrest, or a similar crime, to file a lawsuit. Even when victims can bring cases, lawyers say they struggle because jurors tend to love police dogs.

James Ward covers entertainment, news, sports and lifestyles for the Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register. Follow him on Twitter. Get alerts and keep up on all things Tulare County for as little as $1 a month. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Federal civil rights lawsuit targets VPD's use of police dogs; officers counter claims