San Jose to pay $1.6M after K-9 bites man's neck for 1 minute

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The city of San Jose has agreed to pay $1.6 million to a man who was accused of helping his girlfriend steal tequila and was then attacked by a police K-9 for one minute – the second highest K-9 award in the state of California. 

The city council on Tuesday agreed to the amount, which will be paid to Anthony Paredes, whose windpipe was shredded and whose thyroid cartilage was fractured during the 60-second dog bite, according to his attorney, Izaak Schwaiger. 

Schwaiger said only one other K-9 case in California yielded a higher amount – $2 million -- and in that case, the victim died. 

"This is the largest non-fatal excessive force K-9 case in state history," Schwaiger told KTVU on Wednesday. "I hope it's enough to force San Jose to make serious reforms." 

The third-highest K-9 settlement of $1.35-million was paid to Jason Anglero-Wyrick in 2023 after a Sonoma County sheriff's dog tore a chunk of his calf, and the fourth-highest award of $1 million was paid in November 2024 to Tamilka Bates, whose scalp was ripped off by a Brentwood police dog.  

The San Jose police department said it doesn't comment on litigation and the city attorney did not immediately respond for comment on the settlement. 

Anthony Paredes and his baby girl. Photo: family 

WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO: K-9 bites Anthony Paredes' neck for one minute

A KTVU investigation from 2018 to 2022 revealed that San Jose police deploy K-9s more than any law enforcement agency in the Bay Area – 167 bites over a five-year period. 

In this particular case, San Jose police sent a K-9 to bite Paredes, who had run away from a Safeway on Feb. 7, 2020, where his girlfriend was accused of stealing $350 of tequila, and he ran away, jumping into a garbage can to hide. 

SJPD deployed their German shepherd, Tex, to apprehend him.

Body-worn camera footage obtained by KTVU shows the fateful encounter in graphic detail, blood covering Paredes’ face as the dog thrashed its head side-to-side.

Tex is seeing biting Paredes' neck for 60 seconds. 

The police dog handler, Officer Michael Jeffrey, was eventually kicked off the K-9 unit, according to federal lawsuit documents. 

It was also revealed during this case that Tex had failed to respond to verbal commands at least 22 times in the past, despite the fact that Jeffrey swore in his court declaration that the K-9 had "never failed to release a bite in the field."