Suit: Landlord Lied to Police

LAKELAND | When a Lakeland apartment owner wanted his tenant to leave, he didn't follow typical eviction procedures. In a lawsuit, Willie Mack is accused of tricking Lakeland police into using a dog instead.

That July 2006 incident has led to a civil suit against Mack, the Lakeland Police Department and one of its officers for injuries his tenant, George Freeman, received when officers, thinking he was a burglar, tried to flush him out of the rental home.

The lawsuit is claiming more than $15,000 in damages.

About 9 p.m. July 25, 2006, Mack called the Lakeland Police Department and claimed someone had broken into a home he owned at 1138 N. Brunnell Parkway in Lakeland.

Officers rushed to the scene and, with the approval of Mack, broke down the front door, ordering everyone out of the home or else a dog would be sent inside, police reports said.

After officers gave several warnings with no reply, a dog was sent inside the home, according to police reports. The dog found Freeman in a back room of the home and bit him on the leg, restraining him until officers had the situation under control, police reports said.

But according to the lawsuit, officers sent the dog inside after Freeman responded to them, saying that he had been asleep and wanted to put his pants on before coming out.

When the dog found Freeman, he said in the suit, it bit his leg and would not let go after repeated commands by his handler, LPD officer Lila Bennett.

Freeman required "numerous" stitches for the wound when he was treated at Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

Freeman was later released by police after they learned the whole story through Mack, reports said.

According to the lawsuit and police reports, Mack later told police he knew Freeman was most likely inside the home. Not wanting to go through traditional eviction processes, he called police and lied about the potential burglars.

Mack had given permission to Freeman to live in the home, and Mack's mother, who was not named, had given Freeman a key to the apartment, LPD reports said.

Mack told LPD officers he had been tired of Freeman and his roommate living at the home and thought the two were taking advantage of his mother.

About two months before the incident, Mack told officers he had told Freeman to leave, but he did not see them move out or file proper eviction notices, reports said.

"Mack gave false information to the officers responding to the scene and therefore led LPD to take the appropriate and necessary action it did at the time to secure the scene and apprehend the subjects inside the residence," according to police reports.

Mack was later charged with providing a false report to a law enforcement officer about the commission of a crime, a misdemeanor charge.

Calls to Freeman's lawyer, Shirley Pellarchy, were not returned, and the Lakeland Police Department declined to comment.

[ Jeremy Maready can be reached at jeremy.maready@theledger.com or at 863-802-7592. ]