Suspect files suit against Bradley County over dog bites

CLEVELAND, Tennessee (WDEF) – Just as the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office was cleared in one lawsuit, they now face another.

Gary Lipps Jr. has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the Sheriff and Deputy Eduardo Choate over injuries he sustained during an arrest.. specifically from the police dog, Joker.

This case was somewhat controversial before.

Lipps was a no-show for court after getting a bond from the sheriff’s wife.

He says Sheriff Watson went beyond the normal limits of arresting him to recover the bond, with an excessive number of officers.

And the Sheriff even pursued a vehicle out of his jurisdiction in Georgia to the point of putting a gun to the head of the suspect.

But he had the wrong man.

That suspect later settled with the department over the incident.

But the Lipps Lawsuit concerns his arrest on April 16, 2017.

The Sheriff’s Department said they pursued Lipps because family members were worried he might harm himself.

They got a tip that he was hiding in a home.

When he didn’t respond to them, they sent in Joker.

Sheriff’s officers say when the dog found Lipps in a back room, he started fighting and punching the dog.

That’s when officers subdued him.

You can read more on the lawsuit in the Cleveland Daily Banner.

Just this week, a federal judge dismissed another lawsuit against the department.

In that case, the judge ruled that deputy Tiffany Oakley acted reasonably when shooting a man who attacked her outside her home.