Excessive force trial opens today against 5 Las Vegas police officers

Four innocent men were handcuffed and a family dog was shot to death when police, in a chaotic 2009 incident, mistook three unsuspecting teenage friends for potential burglars.

Beyond those facts, the Metropolitan Police Department and the men they targeted as suspects that day agree on little. A federal jury heard markedly different accounts of the incident Tuesday during opening statements of the civil trial against the five officers involved. U.S. District Judge Robert Jones is presiding over the case.

The three teenagers, and the father of one of the men, filed a $5 million excessive force lawsuit against the Police Department in 2010, setting off a lengthy legal process that reached the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

At issue in the case now, and what the jury must decide, is whether police violated the men’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches when they entered the residence where two of the plaintiffs lived.

Police argue that a phoned-in tip, coupled with an open sliding glass door at the house and the absence of cars parked in the driveway provided probable cause for them to enter without a warrant.

“If a police officer’s mistake is reasonable, they can’t be civilly liable,” said Craig Anderson, the Police Department’s lawyer. “Police are allowed to enter a residence without a warrant if they suspect a burglary is in progress or a fellow officer is in danger.”

Plaintiffs’ attorney Brent Bryson challenged that characterization when he described to jurors the officers’ arrival at the house.

“There was no sign whatsoever that was in accordance with a burglary going on – no crime markings, no broken glass,” Bryson said.

He said Las Vegas police Sgt. Jay Roberts pointed a gun through the window at the teenagers, screamed contradictory commands, and threatened to shoot them when Jordhy Leal, one of the plaintiffs, reached down to turn off the music.

Anderson described a different version of events, saying that when Leal reached down, Roberts believed he may have been concealing a weapon.

After Las Vegas police officer Michael Dunn entered the house, Bryson said plaintiff Henry Rodriguez, who lived in the house with his family, asked if he could put Hazel, his dog, in a different room.

Police declined the request, Bryson said, and Dunn shot the dog in the face.

Anderson, meanwhile, framed it as a matter of safety. “Without warning, a pit bull charged past the boys and to officer Dunn,” he said.

The three teenagers were later handcuffed, and “yanked around,” Bryson said. Before Rodriguez was handcuffed, he called his father, Jesus Sandoval, who was handcuffed upon arriving home.

“Handcuffs is the least intrusive force they can use,” said Anderson, who used his opening statement to defend police actions and to dispute Bryson’s allegations that officers screamed profanities and threats.

Leal was the first witness to testify for the plaintiffs.

“I was feeling terrified, I was scared, confused, in shock — I felt like crying,” he told jurors of how he felt when he was handcuffed face-down on the ground that day.

Rodriguez, Sandoval, and the fourth plaintiff, David Madueno, also are expected to testify in the case. The teenagers were 15, 16, and 18 at the time of the incident. The five Las Vegas police officers named in the lawsuit are Roberts, Dunn and officers Christopher Kohntopp, Justin Byers and Troy Givens.

Contact Jenny Wilson at jenwilson@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Follow @jennydwilson on Twitter.