A Clairton man is suing his local police department, claiming he was mauled by a police dog after being pulled over for going through a stop sign last year.
Te’mon Jackson, 19, filed the lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday against Officer Fred L. Hill Jr. alleging battery and the use of excessive force.
Jackson also accused the officer of filing bogus charges against him. Those charges, which included aggravated assault, taunting police animals and resisting arrest were later withdrawn by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.
According to the lawsuit, Jackson was driving in Clairton on May 20 when Hill pulled him over for allegedly running a stop sign. The complaint claims Jackson was unarmed and that he immediately complied by putting his hands up upon getting out of his vehicle.
It was then, the complaint said, that Hill released his police dog, which charged at Jackson, jumped on him and began biting him in the chest arms and torso. The lawsuit alleges that Hill continued to command the dog to bite Jackson.
“The attack lasted for over two minutes before Hill finally pulled the dog off of Jackson, who was bleeding profusely from the bite wounds,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit notes that Jackson had a colostomy bag at the time, and Hill’s dog tore it off and bit the surgical opening in his abdomen.
Jackson was taken to an area hospital where he remained for three days for treatment, the complaint said.
The lawsuit seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.
A message left with Hill at the Clairton Police Department was not immediately returned.
Criminal court records show Jackson was charged with a range of counts stemming from that day, including aggravated assault, taunting police animals, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
All of those counts, however, were withdrawn by prosecutors on Oct. 31.
The paperwork on the case says only that “in the interest of justice, the commonwealth cannot proceed.”
No other explanation was provided. The DA’s office did not return a message Wednesday seeking comment.
The criminal complaint against Jackson alleged that he was driving a white Nissan SUV just before 5 p.m. that day when Hill pulled him over.
Hill claimed in the complaint that he saw both Jackson and a passenger in the car moving “frantically,” which he said raised suspicion that they were armed. Then, after the vehicle stopped, the passenger got out and ran away with a gun in his hand, Hill wrote.
“I feared for my life that I was going to be shot,” Hill said in the criminal complaint. “I exited the patrol car and yelled a K-9 command to stop or he would be dog bit.”
Jackson then got out of the driver’s side, the complaint said, wearing a fanny pack that Hill suspected might contain a gun.
As Jackson walked toward him, Hill said, he hit the automatic door opener to deploy his dog, which took Jackson to the ground by his right bicep.
Hill said in the complaint that Jackson resisted for four minutes before he was taken into custody.
Jackson faces separate charges from January 2024 in which he is accused of carrying a firearm without a license.
That case is scheduled for a nonjury trial in April.