Two Douglas County sheriff’s deputies whose dog bit the sleeping resident at a Highlands Ranch home can be sued for excessive force and other alleged constitutional violations, the Denver-based federal appeals court agreed on Wednesday.
Tyler Luethje sued Deputies Travis Kyle and Scott Kelly after they responded to a report that someone had broken into Luethje’s house. The deputies, according to Luethje’s lawsuit, quickly sent their dog inside the home, where it bit Luethje in his bedroom and caused lasting nerve damage.
A trial judge determined the two men were not entitled to qualified immunity, which generally shields government employees from civil lawsuits unless they violate a person’s clearly established legal rights. The defendants appealed, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit agreed the deputies, as alleged, had acted unreasonably…