DUNBAR, WV (WOWK) - A civil lawsuit filed on Friday names three Dunbar police officers and the city as being responsible for injuries a man sustained during a July 2023 traffic stop, claiming officers used excessive force and had their K-9 attack the man. The man's name is being withheld at this time, but according to the lawsuit, he is a resident of Tornado.
Dante diTrapano, attorney at Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC, and Jesse Forbes, attorney at Forbes Law Offices, filed the suit together. This is one of the multiple lawsuits they've filed against Dunbar Police.
"It's important to us because Dunbar - somebody needs to shine a light on what's going on down there," diTrapano said. "We had the Michael Scott case that they settled for $2 million. We have three other cases that are pending that I can't really comment on."
"There's a number of lawsuits against the Dunbar police, and it's a tragic situation that we have here because it seems like history just keeps repeating itself," Forbes said.
Friday's filed lawsuit, which mentions the three officers by name and the victim, is a civil suit. No criminal charges have been filed at this time, according to the Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
"What we can do here is use the civil justice system to effectuate change and achieve accountability for people who are injured by the police. This shouldn't happen. We need to trust our police officers," Forbes said.
The lawsuit claims officers thought the man had a liquor bottle in his hand, which led to the officers allegedly hitting the man in the head multiple times and telling their K-9 to attack.
Forbes said, "Being mauled by a police dog when you're being compliant doesn't have a place anywhere in this country."
"It's the epitome of an excessive force case where you have a guy who's in custody who they sick a dog on," diTrapano said. "He chews up his leg. He has to go to the hospital before he goes to jail, and there's just no place for that. That's why we filed the lawsuit."
"It's a sad and unfortunate situation particularly in Dunbar when you have officers who have been accused multiple times of very serious and very heinous acts, and those accusations are on tape. Then those people continue to be in positions of power. It's dangerous, and it's scary for the citizens. It's dangerous and scary for our clients. We hope that through the civil justice system, we can effectuate some change with that," Forbes said.
Forbes said it has been a "very rough and scary time" for the victim.
"Anyone that's a survivor of this type of thing has to do. You're constantly looking over your shoulder. You're constantly having issues, psychological and mental torment there. Not to mention the physical issues as to having gone to the hospital having dealt with these things. This is stuff that can weigh not only physically on you, but it weighs on your soul. This is something that's inside of you and internal, and you have to live with going forward in your life," Forbes said.
Both attorneys draw similarities to the Michael Scott Jr. case from 2022 which alleged Dunbar Police Officer Winters slammed Scott to the ground, resulting in his death days later.
"You would think that something would've changed after the Michael Scott Jr. case, which was maybe the most horrific police brutality case in the history of this state. We expected change. There's been no change," Forbes said. "This has no place in America, shouldn't happen in West Virginia. Dunbar needs to clean this place up, and we see time and time again the same type of tragic thing with the city of Dunbar."
Since this alleged brutality in July 2023, Dunbar Police named a new police chief, John Garten. 13 News did not receive comment from him or the police department following the filing of this lawsuit.
Dunbar Mayor Scott Elliott told 13 News that he needed time to review the lawsuit after it is officially served before he will comment on the record.