City Council agrees to pay $275K to an innnocent man attacked by a police dog

The Santa Ana City Council has agreed to pay $275,000 to a Santa Ana resident who contended in a claim that he had been mauled by a police dog, according to the O.C. Register.

Apparently Santa Ana police officers thought they were sending the dog into a house on West First Street to get ayoung suspected felon named Reuben, at 3:35 am on June 6, 2012.  But the dog attacked 50-year old Higinio Hernandez instead.

Here’s the best part of this mess – the city, said Assistant City Attorney Laura A. Rossini, “did not acknowledge any liability for the city and/or any employees for this matter as a result of the settlement.”

What?  The city pays $275K but no one is to blame?  This is just an oops? How in the world does this happen and no cops get suspended, fired or at least written up?

It should be noted that the Santa Ana Police union was one of Council Member David Benavides’ biggest donors when he ran against Mayor Miguel Pulido last year.  None of the Council Members want to aggravate the cops apparently as they voted unanimously to pay off Hernandez, who was badly damaged by the police dog that attacked him.

The City Council and their overpaid City Manager are now negotiating a new contract with the SAPD cops.  I would imagine that they will get a raise and there will be no increased police accountability in our city.