Las Vegas police sued after K-9 allegedly mauls tourist
Las Vegas police are facing a lawsuit that accuses officers, in their search for a suspect wanted for domestic violence, of allowing a K-9 to maul a tourist.
A complaint filed in District Court on Thursday stated that in June 2023, Metropolitan Police Department Officer Brayden McMahill jumped a fence onto the grounds of a multi-family residence, unlocking the gate for Officer Glenn Obsenares and his K-9 partner, Raider, to enter. Moments later, Jacey Looper, who was inside a backyard pool house on the property, was attacked.
According to the lawsuit, McMahill had been pursuing a possible battery suspect just north of the Strip. After losing sight of the suspect, he called for backup. Obsenares and Raider responded, and the three officers eventually arrived at an apartment complex in the 200 block of Boston Avenue, where Looper was staying. The suit noted that Looper, a Missouri resident, had rented a casita within the complex through Airbnb.
The officers rang the doorbell, but no one from any of the eight units in the building responded, the lawsuit said.
Looper’s attorneys argued that, according to Obsenares’ testimony, Raider had not picked up a scent while searching outside the property walls that would have suggested the suspect had been inside the premises.
The lawsuit also alleged that McMahill and Obsenares had no tactical plan when they entered the property, and that Obsenares was holding Raider’s leash loosely. The complaint also said that it was McMahill’s first time acting as a backup to a canine search team.
When the team reached Looper’s pool house, Raider lunged at the doorway and “began repeatedly biting and re-biting Plaintiff’s left leg with its teeth without any provocation or direction from Obsenares,” the lawsuit said.
“Raider then began to thrash back and forth, tearing chunks of flesh from Plaintiff’s leg, ankle, and knee, and inflicting numerous lacerations and puncturing wounds,” lawyers stated in the complaint. “The Dog also violently pulled at Plaintiff, seemingly trying to drag her out.”
Both McMahill and Obsenares saw the dog biting the woman and had “reasonable opportunity to intervene … but failed to do so,” the lawsuit said. Looper’s attorneys are suing on multiple grounds, including unlawful search and seizure, excessive force, and battery.
The lawsuit included photos of Looper’s injuries and noted that she was transported to University Medical Center, where she received more than 30 stitches.
The complaint also said that Looper was a “completely innocent bystander who committed no crime and at no time threatened the safety of Obsenares, McMahill, or Obsenares’s K-9 unit.”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s prior coverage suggests that Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill has a son named Brayden who also works for the department.
Metro would not confirm the identity of the officer named in the lawsuit, saying that the department does not comment on pending litigation. Christiansen Trial Lawyers, the firm representing Looper, also declined to comment.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.