The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A family who had their pet dog shot and killed by police who mistakenly targeted them as robbery suspects will be paid $77,500 as part of a settlement in a civil lawsuit.
The settlement in the lawsuit against the city of Cookeville and the police officer who leveled his shotgun at the canine came this week in U.S. District Court.
“It was just right up against the trial date. They were still in some depositions, but it was not far from trial. Just all of a sudden the offers started kind of going back and forth and we settled,” City Manager Jim Shipley said.
The settlement with James and Pamela Smoak of Saluda, N.C., does not an admission of guilt on the city’s part, Shipley said.
“We felt like we had a good case and we did nothing wrong. We admitted no liability in the settlement. In my opinion, it was a good economic decision,” Shipley said.
The traffic stop that prompted the lawsuit was captured by a video camera inside an officer’s patrol car. The action was seen around the world and sparked thousands of complaints to state officials.
On New Year’s Day, the Smoaks and their 17-year-old son were returning home after a vacation in Nashville when they were stopped by Cookeville and Tennessee Highway Patrol officers on Interstate 40.
The officers wrongly believed the family had been involved in a robbery.
When the Smoaks knelt on the shoulder of the highway, their dog, Patton, escaped from the car through an open door that the family had repeatedly asked the officers to close.
Officer Eric Hall shot and killed Patton when the mixed-breed bulldog approached him.
In the lawsuit, the Smoaks charge that the officers lacked probable cause to stop them because no robbery had been reported in the area to the Highway Patrol or the Cookeville police.
A case against the Tennessee Highway Patrol case may also be headed for a settlement, said Mary Parker, attorney for the Smoaks.
“The dispatchers and the state officers are still in the case. We’re going to mediate those in the next month or two,” said Parker. “If we don’t settle, we have a trial date set for April 19.”