The lawsuit claims that the man was falsely arrested after his dog, Nikki, was shot during the incident outside of the Midtown Safeway on 19th and S streets.

SACRAMENTO, Calif — A man whose dog was shot by a Sacramento Police Officer in December is suing the city, alleging the officer used excessive force when he fired a round that struck the dog and injured the man and a security guard.

The lawsuit was filed by Sacramento civil rights lawyer Mark Merin on behalf of the Kevin Cole, who is claiming he was falsely arrested after his dog, Nikki, was shot during the incident outside of the Midtown Safeway on 19th and S streets.

"But Mr. Cole, after surgery, still has a fragment of a bullet in his skull between his eyes and this is outrageous," Merin told ABC10, noting that Cole was never charged with a crime. "This is absolutely unjustified, and of course it is an assault by the officer on Mr. Cole and his dog."

Sacramento Police officials would not comment, citing the pending lawsuit.

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Cole said he was stopping outside of a nearby Panda Express to eat a sandwich he had purchased from Safeway as well as to feed his dog before walking to the light rail station to go home.

It was then that security guard asked Cole to leave the area, or he would call the police. Two officers came to the security guard's

Sacramento Police officials released body cam footage of the incident weeks later. Video shows the two officers responding to the incident, with one telling the man "I don't want to take you to jail."

After asking several times for the man to leave, the officer can be heard asking the man if his dog is going to become aggressive. The man responds, "No."

Minutes later, the officer attempted to arrest the man. During the arrest, the dog can be seen lunging at a responding officer. Sacramento Police officials claim the dog bit the officer, but separate video the department later released suggests otherwise.

"The dog had its mouth around my hand, but there is nothing there," the unnamed officer can be heard saying in the video. "It didn’t like actually bite me. It was snarling and growling and snipping. I have no idea why it didn’t bite me."

The officer fired on round at the dog. The bullet missed the dog, but shrapnel from the concrete struck the dog, Cole and the security guard. Both Cole and the security guard were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The dog was taken to a Sacramento animal shelter.

Cole is alleging false arrest, excessive force, unreasonable seizure of property, and more.

"It just shows there is a kind of profiling, not just of racial minorities, but of the poor and the homeless as well," Merin told ABC10. "Unfortunately, Mr. Cole is disabled. He has a neurologic illness, and he looks like he may be down and out. In fact he has an income. He has an apartment. He lives on his own. He's an upstanding citizen who didn't deserve at all to be treated the way that he was."

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