Vallejo Settles With Injured Man For $4 Million

VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) — The city of Vallejo has agreed to pay a 62-year-old man more than $4 million to settle a federal lawsuit after he claimed police severely injured his spine after entering his home without a warrant.

Lawyers for Macario Dagdagan say two Vallejo police officers investigating an alleged assault in June 2007 went into Dagdagan's apartment without a warrant, shocked him with a stun gun and put him into a chokehold that ruptured his spine and led to paralysis.

Police argued that Dagdagan was resisting arrest and uncooperative when he was tased. Dagdagan later had surgery to reverse his paralysis.

A federal judge and the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled the officers acted improperly going into Dagdagan's home without a warrant some two hours after the alleged assault on his girlfriend.

The officers now work for the Richmond police department.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.