Are Police Racist? Innocent Man Beaten By Officers On Camera Gets $2M From City

A man beaten by police mauled by a K-9 unit last summer in St. Paul, Minnesota, is getting a $2 million pay out from the city, the man's attorney said Monday. If approved by the city council, the settlement would be the largest in the city's history, local reports said.

Frank Baker, 53, was returning home from work on June 24 last year when he was approached by officers looking for a man with a gun. Police said that when Baker wasn't immediately cooperative they feared he was armed. After less than 20 seconds of interaction with Baker, an officer released a police dog that grabbed onto Baker's leg, taking him to the ground. While he was on the ground screaming for help, officer Brett Palkowitsch delivered three kicks to Baker's side. Baker needed skin grafts for injuries caused by dog bites and spent two weeks in the hospital with two collapsed lungs and seven fractured ribs, his attorney told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. Police determined Baker was unarmed and not the suspect they were looking for.

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"There was no reason to pursue him at all for anything. They were looking for a black male with dreadlocks and a white T-shirt on the East Side of St. Paul at night," Baker's attorney, Bob Bennett told the Pioneer Press. "Now, how many people do you think that covers?… 10,000?"

In early November, the St. Paul Police Department released dashboard footage of the incident and placed Palkowitsch on unpaid leave while an arbitrator decides whether he can stay with the department. Officer Brian Ficcadenti, the K-9 handler and the first officer to interact with Baker, was suspended for 30 days.

The incident occurred just a day after Todd Axtell stepped into his role as the new chief of the St. Paul Police Department.

“As St. Paul’s police chief, I’m disappointed and upset by what the video shows,” Axtell said at a news conference announcing the release of the tape. “I’m profoundly saddened."

The cost of settlements in police misconduct cases have risen in recent years. In 2014, the 10 largest cities in the U.S. paid $248.7 million in settlements and court judgments in police misconduct cases, which was a 48 percent increase over 2010, the Wall Street Journal said.

Many of the high-profile police shootings over the last few years have resulted in multi-million dollar settlements. The family of Tamir Rice was awarded $6 million from the city of Cleveland last year. The year before, New York City settled with Eric Garner's estate for $5.9 million and the family of Ramarley Graham for $3.9 million.