$16M Lawsuit Filed Against PGPD Based On Unlawful Entry Claim, Dog Shooting

LANDOVER, MD — Four roommates are suing the Prince George's County Police Department and three of its officers for at least $16 million, claiming the officers unlawfully entered their Landover apartment and shot their dog without reason.

The claim filed by the law firm of Murphy, Falcon & Murphy in Baltimore says Officers Jason Ball, Joseph Mihanda and Anthony Jackson entered the apartment without a warrant, the detained the residents at gunpoint and shot their dog without justification. The animal was paralyzed and needed to be euthanized.

Prince George's County officials told The Washington Post they do not comment on pending litigation.

Police received a report of a dog bite on June 2, 2021, at The Verona at Landover Hills, 6908 Allison St. The four plaintiffs — Erica Umana, Erika Erazo Sanchez, Dayri Amaya Benitez and Brandon Cuevas — lived at the apartment complex.

Two officers arrived at the complex to search for the dogs reportedly involved in the biting incident. One officer confronted Erazo Sanchez, who was sitting outside the apartment complex. She refused to answer the officer's questions and when she wouldn't, the officer told her to leave if she didn't live there, because she was trespassing, the lawsuit said. He could be heard calling her a "chick" in officer-worn body cam footage released by the law firm.

When Erazo Sanchez asked the officer what she had done wrong, the officer told her to "Google trespassing," according to the federal lawsuit and officer-worn body cam footage.

After that encounter, officers went to the plaintiffs' apartment and when no one answered their knocks at the door, a maintenance worker gave police a master key to enter. An officer can be heard saying on the video footage, “Now I’m gonna be petty, call maintenance, bring them by, have them go in the apartment, all because they don’t want to answer questions.”

A third officer arrived as the two officers entered the apartment with their guns drawn, all of which can be seen on the police body-worn camera footage.

Two of the plaintiffs were in their bedroom when the officers entered. One of them yelled through the door that police had no right to be there, but one of the officers said they did not need a warrant because they had “probable cause,” according to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, one of the plaintiffs was grabbed by an officer and thrown onto the kitchen counter then the officer said, "I'm not the one, I'll knock you out."

Another officer grabbed another plaintiff by the arm and threw her on the ground, while a third officer threatened to throw her off the apartment balcony and pointed his taser at her head and yelled, "Hey watch out, imma tase her," the lawsuit said.

During what appears to be a shouting match between the plaintiffs and the officers, the plaintiffs' dog came running out of one of the bedrooms. The boxer mix named Hennessey can be seen in the police body-worn camera footage as it is shot by police. The lawsuit states that the dog followed one of the plaintiffs out of the bedroom and approached its primary owner, Erica Umana.

The dog did not attack the three officers who were in the apartment, the law firm claimed, but instead, two of the officers panicked and shot the dog with their issued firearms and the third fired a stun gun at it.

After the shooting, the officers handcuffed the roommates for assaulting the officers and left them in police vehicles for about one hour before releasing them from custody. Umana told The Washington Post in 2021 that she pleaded for somebody to help her wounded dog.

“I was just begging them, begging them,” Umana said. “They just had no remorse.”

The county offered to compensate Umana for her veterinary bills if she agreed to refrain from publicly speaking about the shooting, but she rejected the offer, according to her lawsuit.

An internal affairs investigation found that Ball and Mihanda were accused of conduct unbecoming an officer, placed on paid administrative duty and brought before an internal trial board, the police department told The Post. Mihanda was found guilty and was disciplined, a department spokesperson said. Ball’s case is still pending.

Jackson, who was not initially involved in the incident, was found guilty of a body-camera violation, the department said. He was suspended for two weeks with pay.

“This lawsuit is yet another tragically foreseeable outcome of a failed and biased system of policing in Prince George’s County, to which county leadership has continually turned a blind eye,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also accuses the officers of using excessive force, falsely arresting the plaintiffs and violating their constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

“This case is an outrage. It is disgusting, disgraceful and despicable. These officers outright abused and mistreated our clients, lied to unlawfully break into their house, manhandled them illegally and shot their dog. And in utter disregard for the severity of their intolerable behavior, they laughed about it," William H. “Billy” Murphy, a lawyer for the roommates, said during a news conference. “Unfortunately, this situation reflects the type of abhorrent impunity that exists within the PG Police Department and the abusive tactics tolerated every day. This is a problem that’s out of control. But we will not be beaten nor bullied into silence by officers who think they are above the law. We will be heard and we will have justice.”

Murphy represented the family of Freddie Gray, a Black man whose death in police custody in 2015 led to riots and protests in the city of Baltimore.

“For this to be happening in 2021 blows the mind,” Murphy said. “It is in the DNA of the founding of America that you can’t do this. You can’t get a key to somebody’s house and just walk in there without getting a search warrant.”

The lawsuit claims that the roommates have been "irreparably damaged" and seeks damages for their mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, mental stress, post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, unexpressed anger, shame, loss of dignity, loss of self-respect, embarrassment, loss of sleep, loss of quality of life, fear for loss of life, medical expenses, legal fees and other damages.

The body-worn camera footage obtained by the law firm can be seen online.