Lawsuit accuses Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputy of excessive force for deploying K-9 on wrong man

A Humboldt County man who was bitten last year by a Sonoma County Sheriff’s K-9 during an investigation into a carjacking he was not a part of is suing the department and the dog’s handler for excessive force.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleges the deputy used “unsafe, improper, unnecessary, and unlawful tactics” on Adam Gabriel that caused “serious and lasting injury and disfigurement” without “any reasonable justification.”

“I’m disappointed,” Gabriel, 40, of McKinleyville, told The Press Democrat. “Betrayed by people who are supposed to be professionals and there to help.”

Civil rights attorney Izaak Schwaiger, who is representing Gabriel, said the case, the latest of two targeting the department’s K-9 program, reflected a “culture of unchecked cowboyism” at the Sheriff’s Office that allows misconduct to go unaddressed.

A spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office said that the agency had no comment on the allegations Monday as the department had not been served the lawsuit.

Previously, the department said Gabriel “resisted verbal commands” during the incident. In general, a K-9’s deployment is an appropriate method of deescalating such an encounter, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman said.

The 12-page lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages for permanent physical injuries and emotional trauma Gabriel sustained in the violent encounter.

Gabriel was bitten the night of June 2, 2021 after a deputy — identified in the complaint as Shawn Forghani — approached his car parked in a commercial area of northwest Cotati, where an armed carjacking was reported earlier that evening.

Gabriel was not involved in the carjacking, did not fit the description of the suspect and was driving a car that was a different model and color than the one reported to police, the complaint said.

The Sheriff’s Office previously said deputies first approached the car at Portal Street and Primero Court and trained their guns on Gabriel for six minutes, during which time Gabriel did not comply with their orders to get out of his vehicle.

Body-worn camera video released by the Sheriff’s Office shows Gabriel sitting in the driver’s seat with his hands up, demanding to know what was happening.

“This scenario that we’re in right now is not the time to have this discussion, do you understand me?” responded Forghani.

After minutes of commands, Gabriel exited his car and began walking toward officers as Forghani’s K-9 growled and barked.

Forghani ordered Gabriel to drop to his knees and crawl. Gabriel kneeled and put his hands in the air.

“What crime have I committed?” he said.

“Crawl toward us! I’m not going to tell you again! You will be bit!” Forghani yelled.

Within seconds, the deputy released his dog, which charged Gabriel and bit his left arm. It held on until Forghani called it off moments after.

“I am a Marine Corps veteran, and I have committed no crime! Why are you doing this? Someone speak to me!” Gabriel yelled.

The man was cuffed and arrested for resisting arrest, a charge the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office did not file, according to the lawsuit.

Police eventually arrested a different man, 35-year-old Rajesh Suman of Antioch, in connection to the crime.

“Let’s say Adam had been the carjacker — the use of force still wouldn’t have been called for. Because he was on his knees with his hands in the air, right?” Schwaiger said in a Press Democrat interview.

Gabriel was hospitalized for several days, according to the complaint. He was treated for a tear to his bicep, heavy bleeding from the puncture wounds and painful thrombosis resulting from blood cots throughout his arm.

The Press Democrat on Monday posed written questions about the incident to the Sheriff’s Office shortly after noon.

“We haven’t been served the lawsuit yet. We’ll need a little time after it’s served to review it before we respond,” department spokeswoman Misti Wood wrote in a 4:15 p.m. email. In an follow up email, she said the Sheriff’s Office does not typically comment on pending litigation.

Eight months after the dog bite, Gabriel said he continues to experience the physical and emotional consequences.

“I still have nerve damage in my right hand, which has pretty much ended my ability to do art, which was something that I’ve always been passionate about. I’ve always been an artist — drawn with my right hand played the bass guitar. I cant do that anymore,” Gabriel said in an interview.

He said he experienced “extreme pain,” sleep issues, insomnia, and symptoms of PTSD for months following the attack.

Monday’s federal filing is the latest in several ongoing excessive force and civil rights lawsuits against the Sheriff’s Office, including cases faulting the department’s controversial K-9 program.

Jason Anglero-Wyrick, a Graton man also represented by Schwaiger, sued the Sheriff’s Office in 2021, contending he had been badly hurt by a sheriff’s K-9 that held on to his leg even as its handler tried to order him off. Captured on body-camera video, the incident attracted nationwide scrutiny on the Sheriff’s Office K-9 use.

The extent of K-9 deployments in Sonoma County is not clear, but an investigation from the Marshall Project found that across the country from 2010 to 2020, police dogs annually bit thousands of people — including children, innocent bystanders and even their own handlers.

The Community Advisory Council, the public-facing arm of the county’s Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Oversight, submitted a recommendation last summer to the Sheriff’s Office to change its K-9 policies in light of the local cases.

“The way in which we see them being deployed is cruel and vicious,” said Evan Zelig, who chairs the council. “We’ve seen too many cases where these dogs are being deployed, and it turns out the people involved are not the suspects they are looking for or the dogs did not release when they were told to do so, which resulted in far more damage than appropriate.”

The recommendations include teaching dogs to “seek and bark” rather than “seek and bite” and removing dogs from service or retraining them after they violate policy. Zelig said the Sheriff’s Office has yet to respond to the recommendations.

Monday’s lawsuit names the Sheriff’s Office as a plaintiff alongside Forghani, arguing that the county agency is complicit in this incident and others that have led to expensive legal challenges and settlements.

The office’s liability insurance premiums skyrocketed in 2021 due to several multimillion-dollar settlement payouts stemming from excessive force claims.

“I’d like there to be a lot closer look taken, for these practices to be stopped, so it doesn’t happen to anyone else. This shouldn’t happen to anyone,” Gabriel said.

You can reach Staff Writer Emily Wilder at 707-521-5337 or emily.wilder@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @vv1lder.