Man accusing Simi police of brutality acquitted of resisting arrest

A man has been acquitted of resisting arrest, a verdict that will allow his federal lawsuit alleging Simi Valley police brutality to move forward.
The city of Simi Valley denies the excessive-force allegations, which involve a police dog attacking the man.
Mark Mundell, 28, a former Simi Valley resident who now lives in Nevada, was found not guilty of a misdemeanor resisting arrest charge by a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury last week. Filed by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, the charge stemmed from a 2009 encounter with Simi Valley police in Porter Ranch.
Mundell's attorney, Thomas Beck, said Mundell, who has a long arrest record for narcotics violations, was lured by a police informant to Porter Ranch so police could arrest him on a warrant issued by a Ventura County judge for a probation violation. Mundell at the time was living in the San Fernando Valley.
The informant told Mundell he would lend him his pickup truck if Mundell met him in a Porter Ranch parking lot near Simi Valley, Beck said. Mundell did so and got mauled by Officer Richard Wiggington's police dog, Taz, Beck said.
"As soon as he stepped into the truck, nine cops showed up and surrounded the vehicle at gunpoint," the Orange County attorney said Tuesday. "Wiggington opened the door of the truck, threw the dog inside, they pulled the driver out, and the dog had at Mr. Mundell."
Taz bit Mundell two or three times, "tearing big holes in his body" and leaving him disfigured, Beck said. The lawsuit says Wiggington threatened to shoot Mundell if he tried to fend off the dog.
Beck said the acquittal will allow the claim of police brutality in the federal lawsuit to go forward.
"If he had been convicted, he could have lost his entire excessive-force claim," Beck said. "Under California law, if you're found guilty of resisting arrest, it is presumed the force used against you, regardless of how much or how offensive, is legally reasonable."
Named as defendants in the lawsuit, which also alleges Mundell's civil rights were violated, are Wiggington, who has since retired from the department; former police chief Mike Lewis; and the city.
Ventura attorney Ben Coats, representing Simi Valley in the case, said the excessive-force allegations are false. "We don't believe there is any merit to the claims," he said.
The U.S. District Court lawsuit had been on hold pending the outcome of Mundell's criminal case. With his acquittal, the suit can proceed to trial, barring a settlement, Beck said. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages