A Bakersfield attorney has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Bakersfield, three months after the estranged wife of Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood was mauled by a police dog. For the first time, Victoria Youngblood talked about the vicious attack.
Youngblood was sleeping in her bedroom alone, when police officers walked into her southwest Bakersfield home to serve a search warrant, after her son Aaron was arrested on Easter Sunday.
Victoria Youngblood's wavy blonde hair falls past her shoulders. She wouldn't let us see her ear. You would never know underneath her long locks are scars from the April attack.
Youngblood, who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis, was sick with the flu. She said she took some medicine and went to bed early.
"What I believed this to be a dream, in seeing this wolf, it was like silhouetted and it passed me by and it disappeared into the darkness. The last thing I remembered of what I believed to be a dream," said Victoria Youngblood.
Youngblood said she felt the police K-9 clamp down on her head. "I'm feeling the crunch of my own skull. I'm feeling repetitively gnawing at me, gnawing at my ear, crunching my head. I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I had no idea what was happening to me. The pain was absolutely excruciating," she continued.
Youngblood said she screamed and then she heard a voice. "Get him off. Get him off of her," she explained.
Youngblood described a tug of war between officers and the dog. "I remember my head was down and the blood was dripping down and I'm being shaken and all of a sudden I'm getting a barrage of questions," she said.
According to Victoria Youngblood, officers were asking her questions about her son, Aaron Youngblood. The 28-year-old had been arrested earlier that day after police found him asleep in his truck. They searched the truck and another vehicle and found weapons, drugs and stolen property.
Aaron Youngblood was sentenced to nine months in jail. But, his mother was left with permanent damage to her ear. She may never get her hearing back. "It still feels I'm carrying around a pressure device on my head. I get shooting sensations of shards of glass or razor blades or glass," said Youngblood.
Attorney Daniel Rodriguez represents Victoria Youngblood. He filed a federal lawsuit against the city Thursday afternoon.
"We filed a claim with the city and it was rejected, denied, and they said no liability. We didn't have any choice but to file it in Federal court. That's the only way we're going to get the Bakersfield Police Department to number one, follow their own rules and number two, hopefully change their policies," said Rodriguez.
"I know what happened to me should never happen to anyone," said Youngblood.
Bakersfield City Attorney Ginny Genarro told 17 News she did not have a copy of the lawsuit as of Thursday evening.