Cedar Rapids settles second $50,000 lawsuit related to the same police dog

CEDAR RAPIDS — The City of Cedar Rapids approved a $50,000 settlement Tuesday to resolve a second lawsuit filed against the police department and city involving a now-retired police dog who bit a wrongly arrested 13-year-old boy in 2020.

After a federal civil trial ended in a mistrial in June 2024, it was reset for earlier this month, but a settlement was made in January by the City with the Cedar Rapids and the mother of the teen.

In the lawsuit, the teen’s mother — TonyaMarie Adams — asserted that K-9 Officer Nathan Trimble used excessive force when deploying his dog, Ace, after police misidentified the teen as having stolen a vehicle on Aug. 12, 2020.

In the mistrial, according to jurors’ questions during deliberations, the jury said they couldn’t agree if Trimble used excessive force when he deployed the police dog. The dog bit the upper arm of the teen, holding him for about 20 seconds before Trimble gave a release command to Ace.

The teen, identified as A.H., was wrongly arrested in a stolen vehicle incident and was never charged after being treated for lacerations to his arm.

Adams, through her lawyer, filed an open records petition for a copy of the body camera footage from the incident, which she shared with The Gazette in 2021 after filing her lawsuit. The lawsuit was transferred from Linn County District Court to U.S. District Court because it involved federal law claims.

Adams’ lawsuit was the second filed in 2021 against the Cedar Rapids Police Department and the city that involved Ace.

Howard T. Cones, who was homeless at the time, filed a lawsuit, asserting he was sleeping under a park picnic table bench around midnight July 12, 2018, when Ace “viciously attacked him.” The city also settled that case for $50,000.

A federal judge dismissed the equal protection, negligence, racial discrimination and liability claims against the city. He also granted summary judgment to Trimble on racial discrimination, strict liability and negligence claims, and dismissed those from the suit.

In the summary judgment he detailed the facts of the case, which included how the 13-year-old was misidentified as being part of a group of males who fled from a vehicle and were suspected of having firearms.

Ace was retired sometime after the lawsuit was filed and before Trimble was assigned a new canine in 2023.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com