EDMONDS — A Marysville jogger who was bitten repeatedly by an Edmonds police dog in October has filed a claim for more than a half-million dollars against the city.
Frances Barnett was jogging near the Marysville home of Edmonds police officer Linda Binkley, an Edmonds police K-9 handler, when Nico attacked her, biting her legs, back and shoulder.
She said in the claim that the 8-year-old German shepherd had walked away after the initial attack and came back a second time after she tried to get up and go home.
Barnett wrote in the claim that she eventually crawled slowly through a drainage ditch and walked about a quarter-mile home after she was out of the dog’s sight.
She’s seeking $520,000 to cover her medical expenses and trauma. The claim was forwarded to the Washington Cities Insurance Authority, an agency that handles insurance for 109 cities much like a private insurance company would.
Lou Leigh, executive director of the agency, said the case is straightforward.
"The facts are pretty clear," Leigh said. "It’s unfortunate that this happened, and we just want to make it right with (the victim)."
The claim is going into litigation, but Leigh said "this isn’t the kind of case that will ever make it to a courtroom," implying that a settlement could be made before the case lands before a Snohomish County judge.
Edmonds Police Chief David Stern acknowledged that the claim had been received and forwarded to the city’s insurance handler. He said he could not comment further.
Nico was euthanized in early November after veterinarians told police he was likely to bite again.
The October attack wasn’t Nico’s first. It was the fifth time he’d bitten an innocent person in as many years.
An Everett attorney who is representing two of the victims — a Marysville girl and a community college student — said he is preparing lawsuits on their behalf.
Adam Taylor, a then 19-year-old Edmonds Community College student who was allegedly bitten by Nico during training exercises at the school in March 2001 filed a $1 million claim for damages with the city that year, but the city refused to pay it.
Before that, the dog bit a 15-year-old Marysville girl who was on a trail near Binkley’s home in Marysville in April 2000.
"Our position is that this recent attack should have never happened," Attorney Joseph Bennett said Wednesday. "If the city would have taken the previous attacks seriously, it wouldn’t have happened."
In May 1997, the dog bit a girl staying at a day care near Binkley’s former home in Everett, according to an Edmonds police report. The dog bit the girl on the left hip, leaving two small puncture wounds.
In January 2000, the dog bit Lynnwood police officer Al Correa, who had requested help from Binkley and Nico in apprehending a driver who led officers on a pursuit from I-5 to Ninth Avenue N., according to a Lynnwood police report.
When the driver lost control and crashed into some bushes, Correa started running toward the car to arrest him. The dog followed. Instead of going after the suspect, the dog bit the officer’s left leg, the report said. The officer pushed the dog away, but the "dog grabbed my left leg again harder," Correa said in his report.
Binkley then took control of the dog, which tracked the fleeing suspect.
Reporter Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
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