( KRON ) — The City of Brentwood paid a woman nearly $1 million in damages after a police dog mauled her in 2020, law firm Pointer & Buelna LLP announced in a press release. The woman still suffers from headaches and memory loss four years after the attack, according to a lawsuit filed on her behalf.
The attack happened on Feb. 10, 2020, after Ulta Beauty reported that three young women shoplifted from the store. One of those women, Talmika Bates, fled in a car and hid in nearby bushes, Brentwood police said.
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The law firm said that she had already surrendered to police when officer Ryan Rezentes sent K9 Marco into the bushes after her. The German Shepherd bit the woman’s head, causing open wounds on her scalp.
In a statement Friday, the Brentwood Police Department said the officers had no way of knowing whether Bates was armed.
In bodycam video of the incident, an officer is heard saying “Don’t worry, I won’t shoot your dog.” After failed attempts to get the dog off Bates, one officer appeared to tell her to “do something” as she was being attacked.