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Duluth City Council approves $50,000 settlement for police dog bite

A motel employee will be compensated for the injury she received.

MarcJohnsonFile
Duluth Police K-9 Officer Marc Johnson gives his German shepherd partner, Oakley, words of praise and a few good rubs after the dog ran the training course at the Hermantown Law Enforcement Center. (2013 file / News Tribune)

Teri Lynn Ehlers, an employee of the Patch Motel in Warroad, sued the city of Duluth and former K-9 Officer Marc Johnson after she was bitten by a police dog named Oakley on May 28, 2018. But Ehlers will drop that suit in return for a $50,000 settlement unanimously approved by the Duluth City Council on Monday evening.

Johnson was off duty and a guest of the motel when the incident occurred. He has since left the police department and has gone to work as a conservation officer for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. His K-9 partner, Oakley, has been retired from service.

Ehlers said she was bitten in the thigh while she was making housekeeping rounds at the motel. The terms of the settlement say the payment "is not to be construed as an admission of liability on the part of the persons and entities hereby released."

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