BY DANA DiFILIPPO
A SOUTH Philadelphia woman
claims cops trying to subdue a neighbor's unruly pit bull blasted their guns at
the animal - and hit her.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in
Common Pleas Court, Kristen Kelly said that at least one of the six bullets two
officers fired at the dog on Aug. 5, 2012, hit her in the leg on her block on
Etting Street near Reed.
Afterward, she underwent
surgery, suffered postsurgical infection and still suffers from leg numbness
and severe emotional distress, according to her complaint.
The dog was killed.
Kelly is seeking more than
$50,000 in damages for negligence and assault/battery. The complaint names the
officers, the city and the Police Department as defendants.
Her attorney, Kenneth Saffren,
claims the officers used excessive force in responding to an animal incident
and failed to call animal-control authorities or clear bystanders before
drawing their guns.
Sgt. John Stanford, a police
spokesman, said he couldn't comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit comes amid federal
scrutiny of the city's police-involved shootings. Commissioner Charles Ramsey
last spring asked the U.S. Department of Justice to review the cases, which
have soared in the past decade even as overall violence in the city has fallen.
Police-involved shootings also
have led to a spike in lawsuit payouts, a recent Daily News examination found.
The city paid nearly $14
million last year to settle civil-rights claims, up from $4.2 million just four
years earlier. Last year's biggest payout, $2.5 million, was given to a man
shot in the chest by a police officer investigating a false burglary report in
the man's home.
"We have been reviewing
our policies and practices regarding officer-involved shooting," Stanford
said. "The department is committed to providing the best possible training
for our officers to serve them and the public in the best possible
manner."
