Squad video of a St. Paul police dog biting a 53-year-old man and an officer kicking him “shows an attack on an innocent man,” his attorneys say in a federal lawsuit filed Friday seeking more than $5 million.

Frank Arnal Baker’s lawsuit against the city and officers asserts the stop by police was unconstitutional and racially motivated. Baker was not the suspect in a case and the lawsuit says officers improperly stopped him.

Baker was hospitalized for two weeks with serious injuries, and Police Chief Todd Axtell apologized to him. Axtell suspended the K-9 officer for 30 days and the man who kicked Baker is not currently working as a St. Paul officer.

Bob Bennett, an attorney representing Baker, said the police stop of Baker on the East Side was “bad from the get-go.”

“If you read the officers’ reports…it seems to me that the subtext there is racial animus,” Bennett said. “I don’t think they’d be doing the same thing in Highland Park.”

The city and Baker’s attorneys discussed a potential settlement before the lawsuit was filed but didn’t reach agreement. City Attorney Samuel Clark said Friday they had “been expecting Mr. Baker to file a lawsuit since we were unable to reach an early agreement through voluntary mediation.

“The mayor and the chief have demonstrated through both words and actions that the city has taken this case very seriously,” Clark continued.

The incident began after Baker returned home from work June 24 at 10 p.m. and parked near his apartment building at 1871 E. Seventh St. He sat in his vehicle as he talked on his cell phone.

Police reported they received an anonymous call about a “group of people with bats, golf clubs and at least one with a gun” in front of 1891 E. Seventh St., three buildings from Baker’s. The caller reported a black male with dreadlocks wearing a white T-shirt had a gun in his hand, but did not mention a car or a fight.

Officer Brian Ficcadenti, who found Baker, wrote in his report that “there was a ‘large group fighting’ in the area with weapons,” the lawsuit said. “This was never transmitted to him by dispatch and was added by him to make the call seem more dangerous.”

Baker’s lawsuit says officers did not properly articulate “facts to support that Baker was the anonymously reported armed suspect. No reasonable officer would have viewed Baker as a suspect in any crime and, in fact, he was not.”

And the lawsuit also states that Baker’s “proximity to the location … was innocuous — it would not have been unusual to find a black male with dreadlocks wearing a white tee shirt … as over 15 percent of the city’s population is African American, even more so in this neighborhood.”

Ficcadenti yelled at Baker to step out of his vehicle and put his hands up, which he did without displaying aggression, but the officer “without warning and seemingly ignoring Baker’s peaceful compliance” unleashed his K-9 on Baker less than 20 seconds later, the lawsuit said.

In a squad video, which was recorded after another officer pulled up and the dog was already biting the man, Baker can be heard screaming as the K-9 was dragging him around by his right leg.

Four officers ran up — Brett Palkowitsch, Brian Norwicki, Anthony Spencer and Joseph Dick — and “the dog attack continued with the encouragement” of the officers, “one or more of whom can be heard yelling such things as: ‘Get him. Get him’ on the video,” the lawsuit continued.

When Baker was still on the ground and the dog was “ravaging” his leg, Palkowitsch “delivered three powerful kicks to Baker’s ribs and midsection,” the lawsuit said. Palkowitsch wrote in a report that he kicked Baker because he believed he was armed and he said he wasn’t complying with officers’ orders.

Baker sustained “severe and permanent injuries” from Ficcadenti’s use of force and Palkowitsch’s kicks “caused further severe injuries to Baker, which would have independently required immediate emergency care to save Baker’s life and prolonged hospitalization,” according to the lawsuit.

The incident lasted about 70 seconds and the officers “observed patently excessive force and were in a position to stop it. They chose not to,” said the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims the officers “colluded with one another in the writing of their individual reports … to attempt to falsely justify the use-of-force.”

It says officers wrote about about previous calls to the area “for the purpose of painting a picture of a violent, hostile neighborhood where an ‘end justifies the means’ type of law enforcement is necessary, albeit constitutionally improper.”

The officers’ reports described Baker moving around, putting his hands near his waistband where they said suspects often conceal weapons and not turning over onto his back as he was ordered, but they “failed to note Baker was being continually bitten and dragged around,” the lawsuit said, while the video shows the dog attack “would inhibit anyone from complying with commands and would leave anyone writhing around in pain.”

Baker spent two weeks in the hospital. He had numerous large wounds to his lower leg from the K-9 bites and “significant tissue loss and damage, which left his tibia exposed” and he needed skin grafts, according to the lawsuit.

Palkowitsch’s kicks resulted in both of Baker’s lungs collapsing and seven rib fractures, Bennett said. He continues to have lung and breathing problems, and the scars from the dog bite wounds have periodically split open. He’s also been seeking treatment for “his psychological issues stemming from the traumatic attack,” has nightmares and flashbacks, and has post-traumatic stress disorder, the lawsuit said.

Axtell released squad video of the incident with Baker on Nov. 4, the day after he suspended Ficcadenti for 30 days for seven policy violations.

Police said in November that Palkowitsch was no longer a St. Paul police officer as of Nov. 4.

On Friday, a police spokesman said Palkowitsch is on unpaid leave and not working as an officer. The police department has an open investigation into Palkowitsch.