Bitten by a police dog in California? What the law allows

A police dog bite is not like an ordinary dog bite. Police K9s are trained to bite and hold, and a single deployment can cause deep wounds that need surgery and leave lasting scars and nerve damage. If you were bitten by a police dog and are looking into a police dog bite lawsuit in California, the rules are different from the ones that apply to a neighbor's dog. This guide explains those rules in plain words.

Below we cover why California's strict dog-bite law usually does not apply to police dogs, how courts decide whether a K9 deployment was excessive force, what happened to recent bills that would have limited police dogs, what the public data shows, reported results in California cases, and the steps to take now. A K9 bite lawyer can help you sort out which claims fit your facts.

Why the normal dog-bite law usually does not apply

California has a strict liability dog-bite statute, Civil Code § 3342, which generally makes a dog owner responsible for a bite without proof of fault. But subdivision (b) says that rule cannot be used against a government agency using a dog in police work when the bite happened while the dog was helping an officer apprehend or hold a suspect the officer reasonably suspected of criminal activity, investigate a crime, execute a warrant, or defend an officer or another person.

That means most K9 cases are brought as civil-rights and excessive force cases instead. The exemption does not cover every bite. For example, when a police dog escapes and bites someone who was never a suspect, the claim may look more like an ordinary negligence case.

How courts judge a police dog deployment

Federal courts treat releasing a police dog to bite someone as a use of force under the Fourth Amendment. The question is whether that force was objectively reasonable, looking at how serious the suspected crime was, whether the person posed an immediate threat, and whether the person was resisting or trying to flee. Our excessive force guide explains that test.

In K9 cases, the details matter a great deal:

• Was a warning given? Many policies call for a loud announcement that a dog will be released, so a person can surrender.
• How long did the bite last? Even when releasing the dog was justified, letting it keep biting after a person surrenders or is under control can be a separate problem.
• Was the person hiding, fleeing or surrendering? A person lying still with hands visible is in a different position from someone running.
• Who was bitten? Bites to bystanders, children or the wrong person raise their own questions.

The Ninth Circuit, the federal appeals court covering California, has decided several K9 cases with different results. In Lowry v. City of San Diego (2017), a full panel of the court found no constitutional violation where a dog searching a dark office after a burglar alarm briefly bit a woman before the handler called it off. In Watkins v. City of Oakland (1998), the court allowed a claim to go forward where the officer was alleged to have let the dog keep biting a man who had been found hiding and was not resisting. These cases show that the outcome depends on the facts of each deployment.

Did California pass a law limiting police dogs?

No. Several bills have been proposed, and none has become law as of October 2026.

• AB 742 (2023) would have barred police from using an unleashed dog to apprehend someone except in narrow situations involving a serious violent felony and an imminent danger, banned dogs for crowd control, and treated a death or serious injury caused by a police dog as deadly force. According to the legislative record compiled by CalMatters Digital Democracy, the bill died on the Assembly inactive file on February 1, 2024. NBC 7 San Diego reported that several police chiefs campaigned against it.
• AB 2042 and AB 3241 (2024) were narrower. AB 2042 would have had the state's police training commission write K9 guidelines, including a ban on dogs for crowd control, and AB 3241 would have required a study and annual public K9 reports. Both cleared the Assembly but stalled in the Senate and were not passed before the session ended in August 2024, according to the American Kennel Club's legislative tracker and NBC 7.

Without a statewide statute, the rules for when a dog can be used come from each agency's own policy, the general use-of-force laws, and the courts.

What the data shows about police dog bites

California agencies must report uses of force that cause serious bodily injury or death to the Department of Justice. In the DOJ's 2025 use-of-force report, a canine was listed as force used on 61 of the 633 civilians in reported incidents. Because the reporting threshold is narrow, many bites are not in these numbers.

Local records can tell more. NBC 7 San Diego reported that San Diego Police Department dogs bit 161 people from 2018 to 2022, and that about two-thirds of them were Black or Hispanic, compared with roughly 36% of the city's population. Agency bite logs, K9 training records and the dog's deployment history are among the records we request in these cases.

Medical consequences of a K9 bite

Police dogs are trained to bite and hold, so injuries can be more serious than a typical dog bite. In public cases, people have described deep puncture wounds, torn muscle, nerve damage, infections, scarring that needs plastic surgery, and in some cases head injuries. Emotional injuries such as PTSD are also common. Get medical care right away, follow up on any signs of infection, and keep every photo and record. Long-term care costs, including future surgeries, are part of what a lawyer and medical experts will evaluate.

Reported results in California K9 cases

These results were obtained by other firms and are reported by news outlets:

• Brentwood, 2024: $967,000 settlement. Talmika Bates sued the city alleging excessive force after a police dog bit her head during a February 2020 arrest for suspected shoplifting. She was later diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury and PTSD, Insurance Journal reported.
• San Mateo County, 2017: $1.1 million jury verdict. A jury found that sheriff's deputies used excessive force when they deployed a dog on Richard Earl May Jr., who had entered a fenced construction site in Half Moon Bay to retrieve a friend's cat in 2015, CBS News reported.
• San Diego, 2022: $600,000 settlement. Jenna Cole sued the city for negligence after a police K9 escaped its handler's yard through a gate with a broken latch and attacked her in January 2021, Insurance Journal reported. This was not an arrest, which is why it was brought as a negligence case.

See our full table of police brutality settlements and verdicts in California for more. Every case is different. Past results, including those listed here, do not predict the outcome of any other case.

What claims can you bring?

• Federal civil-rights claim (42 U.S.C. § 1983) against the handler for unreasonable force, and against the city or county if its K9 policy, training or practice caused the harm. Handlers can raise qualified immunity on federal claims.
• Battery, negligence and the Bane Act under California law. Qualified immunity does not apply to these state claims. Public employers are generally responsible for employees acting within the scope of their work, though some immunities apply.
• Wrongful death claims by close family members in the rare cases where a bite or the encounter leads to death.

Deadlines for a police dog bite claim

State-law claims against a city, county or the State require a written government claim within six months of the bite (Government Code § 911.2). Our guide to the six-month government claim deadline explains the steps. Federal civil-rights claims generally must be filed within two years in California. A complaint to internal affairs does not stop either deadline. If you were charged after the bite, talk to a lawyer before saying anything about the incident.

What to do now

1. Get medical care and follow every wound-care instruction.
2. Photograph the wounds regularly as they heal, and keep damaged clothing.
3. Write down the time, place, officer and dog names if known, and whether you heard a warning.
4. Look for neighbors' cameras and witnesses quickly.
5. Do not sign anything or give a recorded statement to the agency or its insurer.
6. Call a lawyer early. We send preservation letters for body-camera video, the K9 deployment report, the dog's bite and training history, and dispatch audio.

How LaCour handles K9 cases

LaCour Trial Lawyers is a Pasadena-based trial firm handling police misconduct and civil-rights cases across California, led by Jonathan P. LaCour. We have Spanish-speaking lawyers and staff, and we work on contingency, with no fee unless there is a recovery. Request a free, confidential review.

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information about California and federal law and about public records as of its date. It is not legal advice, and reading it or contacting us does not create an attorney–client relationship. Allegations in lawsuits are claims, not findings. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Attorney advertising.