Parents sue after their son's remains used in police dog-training



Niagara County officials in western New York are facing a lawsuit from the parents of Roger Dunn, who allege that a coroner took a piece of his body for canine police-training after he died last year.



Dunn, 32, was killed in an automobile accident in Cambria on April 13, 2012 according to the Associated Press .



His body was transported to the office of Niagara County Coroner Russell Jackman, but not before he provided some of Dunn's tissue to a volunteer firefighter chief Vincent Salerno, who was trying to train a dog to track human remains.

Dunn's parents allege in the suit that tissue was taken from their son's body by the Cambria coroner and given to a volunteer firefighter chief to train a dog to sniff human remains

The Dunn's have filed their lawsuit, which does not specify damages, against the county coroner's office, the former coroner Jackman, the former firefighter chief Salerno and the volunteer fire department

Both Jackman and Salerno resigned and were charged with misdemeanors.



The two were fined $1,000 and sentenced to 100 hours of community service with the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.



They also had to write apology letters to Danny and Anita Dunn, the parents of Roger.

The Dunns filed their lawsuit with Michael Dowd, an attorney from Lewiston, to the New York State Supreme Court against the coroner's office, Jackman, Salerno and the volunteer firefighter department.



According to Dowd the two did not know the tissue had been removed from Roger's body until media reports surfaced.

