Florida cops were searching for a man who fled on foot during a traffic stop in 2019 when they confronted a Black family who had nothing to do with the fugitive, allowing a police dog to attack the mother in the doorway of her own home.
Lakeland police arrested Kim Saddlers on a felony charge of battery on a police officer, which carried a potential five-year prison sentence. Prosecutors dismissed the charge in 2021.
They also arrested her longtime partner and two of her sons.
Last week, the city of Lakeland settled with Saddlers for $125,000, ending a seven-and-a-half-year legal battle, local media reported.
“No reasonable officer would have arguable probable cause to arrest an individual for battery on a law enforcement officer where she did not touch either officer, and merely tripped and fell near her door in an attempt to make way for the police before she was bitten by a police dog,” a Florida judge wrote in her summary judgment order last year.
Iquan Issac, one of Saddlers’ sons, testified that Lakeland Police Officer Chad Landry allowed the Belgian Malinois named Nox to maul his mother “for a good minute,” court documents state.
But Lakeland Officer Benjamin Blommel, who also was in the apartment, testified during a deposition the attack lasted about 10 to 15 seconds.
Using case law, U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell determined the dog attack went on for too long.
“Based on the Graham factors, the record, and considering Plaintiff’s version of events, the Court finds that the prolonged duration of the dog bite on Plaintiff was excessive force,” Judge Honeywell wrote.
It was shortly after midnight on March 11, 2019, when Lakeland police were pursuing a man suspected of driving a stolen car who ditched the car and fled on foot into the apartment complex.
More cops arrived, including Landry with the dog to try to track the suspect down.
“Lakeland Police Department canine unit,” shouted Landry. “If you can hear my voice, make your presence known or the canine unit will find and bite you,” court records state.
After nobody responded, Landry commanded the dog to track the scent of the suspect on the sidewalk where Iquan Issac, then 24, was talking to a neighbor about 50 feet away.
The cops ordered them to go back inside their apartments, accusing them of interfering with their dog’s attempt to track the suspect, threatening to unleash the dog on them if they did not comply.
Fearing a dog attack, Iquan Isaac said he ran into the apartment, knocking over a table and lamp inside. But police said he initially refused, then left the front door to the apartment open.
Police said Iquan Isaac and the neighbor disrupted the tracking process, forcing officers to restart it.
Meanwhile, court records state that Lorenzo Isaac, then 43 and Saddlers’ longtime partner, woke up to the noise and opened the door to see what was happening.
“Go inside or you’re going to be charged,” the cops told him, according to the affidavit.
But they say the shirtless man refused to comply by telling them, “I don’t have to go anywhere.”
Officer Blommell said he grabbed Lorenzo Isaac’s arm to arrest him, but he pulled them inside the apartment and began fighting with him.
Once inside the apartment, Blommell claimed Saddlers and their two sons, Iquan and Kevonte Issac began trying to pull the cop off Lorenzo Isaac. Blommell said he shot Lorenzo Isaac with a Taser, but it had no effect on him.
Saddlers testified she was holding their 3-month-old granddaughter in her hands when she tried to leave the apartment to escape the chaos, but she tripped and fell in the doorway. The baby fell but a neighbor picked her up.
She said that was when the dog began attacking her.
The cops acknowledged she tripped and fell in the doorway prompting the dog to attack her but claim they do not remember her holding a baby.
They also accuse Lorenzo and Kevonte Isaac of kicking the dog to stop the attack on Saddlers. And they claimed Lorenzo Isaac punched Landry in the face
Police arrested all three men — the father and his two sons — on charges of battery on a police officer and interfering with a police K-9. Lorenzo and Kevonte also faced charges of maliciously striking a police K-9.
Polk County court records show that all three men were convicted and received probation and jail sentences.
But prosecutors dismissed the felony charge against Saddlers in 2021. She filed her lawsuit in September 2022.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to Saddlers for comment, but she has not yet responded. It is not clear if Lakeland police ever arrested the original suspect they were pursuing on foot over the alleged stolen vehicle.
