Concert conductor maimed by K-9 after missing car rental payments | Taiwan News

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A concert driver severely mutilated by a police dog is suing a San Francisco-area suburb, alleging excessive use of force and a civil rights violation when police arrested him in December 2020 after missing car rental payments.

Dashboard and body camera videos obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle show an unresponsive Ali Badr moaning in pain, his arm in the teeth of an aggressive San Ramon police dog for more than a minute as officers tried to handcuff him.

“I never do anything,” Badr shouted at the officers, the videos show. “I never did anything in my life.”

Badr, a 42-year-old Oakland resident, drove for Uber and Lyft and started delivering food for DoorDash when the pandemic hit, the outlet reported. Forced to give up his own car due to declining income, he agreed to lease a Toyota Camry owned by startup CarMommy, which caters to gig workers, the lawsuit alleges.

He told The Chronicle he had fallen behind on his payments, but told the company he would pay them shortly. It was something he had done before, he said. But CarMommy CEO and co-founder John Blomeke had reported the car stolen, said Matthew Haley, Badr’s attorney, which resulted in the car’s license plate number being written into a database. of state Department of Justice data shared between agencies.

Badr was on his way to work at a gas station when the plate triggered one of the city’s license plate readers, alerting police to a vehicle reported stolen. Officers in half a dozen cars pulled him over, guns drawn and dogs barking. He ended up being rushed to the hospital for surgery.

San Ramon Police Chief Craig Stevens told the outlet in an email that the department conducted an internal investigation into Badr’s arrest, but declined to answer further questions citing the lawsuit.

Badr filed a federal lawsuit last month against the city of San Ramon, its police chief and several police officers. He is also suing CarMommy, Blomeke and HyreCar Inc. of Los Angeles, who brokered the rental.

HyreCar, the San Ramon City Attorney, CarMommy and Blomeke did not return messages from The Chronicle seeking comment.