A multimillion-dollar settlement — the largest involving police misconduct in St. Paul’s history — has been reached between the city and a man who was bitten and kicked by police forces last summer, according to an attorney involved in the case.
Attorneys for Frank Arnal Baker said Monday that they have a verbal agreement with the city for $2 million for the case. The agreement, they noted, has yet to be signed by all parties.
“This is just one of those cases that St. Paul needed to address. They’ve now responsibly and fairly dealt with all aspects of Frank Baker’s case,” said Andrew Noel, of Minneapolis-based Gaskins Bennett Birrell Schupp LLP.
Acknowledging that Baker received “awful, severe injuries,” city attorney Samuel Clark said, “The city has sought to do the right thing from the beginning. It includes acknowledging that what happened to Mr. Baker should never have happened and apologizing for it, and then taking strong steps to try to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again.”
The settlement still needs to be approved by a vote from city council, which could occur April 5.
Clark said the city’s settlement with Baker is the largest for police misconduct that he is aware of.
St. Paul officers responded June 24 to an anonymous report of a man with a gun and were told the suspect was black and had dreadlocks, on East Seventh Street near Hazel Street. Baker, who was returning to his apartment in the area, fit the description but was unarmed and turned out not to be the suspect.
A police K-9 held Baker’s leg for 70 seconds, and officer Brett Palkowitsch kicked him because, he wrote in a report, he believed Baker was armed and wasn’t complying with officers’ orders.
Baker spent two weeks in the hospital with fractured ribs and collapsed lungs and needed skin grafts for the dog-bite injuries, according to his attorney, Bob Bennett.
Noel said there were no additional stipulations in the settlement, though he did add that “the city has already taken some steps to hopefully prevent an incident like this in the future, by disciplining some of the officers involved and adding training measures. I think that’s already taking place.”
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As of Nov. 4, officer Palkowitsch was put on unpaid leave. He is in arbitration to determine whether he can stay with the department.
The police dog’s handler, officer Brian Ficcadenti, was suspended for 30 days.