A civil trial opens today in federal court against five Las Vegas police officers who were sued for excessive force after they shot a family dog during a 2009 home entry.
The plaintiffs filed a number of accusations against the officers, namely that they illegally entered the residence, pointed a gun at teenagers in the home and caused emotional distress when they shot the family’s dog to death.
The Las Vegas Review Journal reports lawyersfor the Metropolitan Police Department are expected to argue that a perceived threat of burglary as well as other events that day justified the officers’ entry into the home and their use of force.
The plaintiffs sued the Police Department in 2010 for $5 million dollars. The trial represents the culmination of a lengthy legal process that reached the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The higher court returned the case to U.S. District Court in Las Vegas in 2014.