On Feb. 22, 2002, Talmika Bates filed a lawsuit citing police negligence and violation of policy.
In 2020, Bates had her scalp ripped off by a Brentwood Police K-9. She was suspected of stealing thousands of dollars worth of cosmetic products from Ulta.
An Ulta employee contacted the police to report three women had stolen $10,000 worth of products. The police searched for the women, and Bates was found hiding behind bushes in a field.
A bodycam video shows Bates screaming in pain, while the skin on her head was ripped off. The police dog refused to listen to the commands of the officer, as they had to physically remove his grip from Bates’ scalp. She was rushed to the hospital after the incident where her scalp was sewed back on.
Bates’ attorneys Adante Pointer and Patrick Buelna filed the lawsuit claiming that the officer violated his training and instructed the police dog to go after the woman “without providing any warning or a reasonable opportunity to surrender.”
“This unbridled use of an apparent blood-thirsty dog to track, hunt, and then attack an unarmed fleeing woman as she lay in a set of bushes harkens back to the days of slavery and slave catchers,” the lawsuit says.
In the shoplifting case, Bates pled guilty to felony grand theft, spent 120 days in jail and is on probation for a year.
