The Gainesville man who was mauled by a Gainesville Police Department K-9 in July 2022 while fleeing a traffic stop changed his not guilty plea Tuesday and was sentenced to a year in prison.
Terrell Bradley, 30, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and no contest to battery on an officer and resisting an officer, according to court documents. He originally entered a written plea of not guilty on all counts in September 2022.
Judge David Kreider sentenced Bradley to one year and seven months in prison.
Bradley was arrested July 10, 2022 after officers pulled him over for an alleged traffic violation, according to court records. He stepped out of his vehicle and began to run, taking cover in Eden Park bushes, about half a mile from the traffic stop at Sweetwater Square Apartments, according to a July 16, 2022, GPD press release.
As Bradley fled the police, Andrew Milman, the officer who initiated the traffic stop, wrote in a sworn complaint affidavit that he asked Bradley to leave the car, but Bradley struck him with his elbow to escape.
After he ran, officers found a stolen gun in Bradley’s car and discovered a 12-year-old felony conviction on his record, so they brought in a police dog to track him.
A police K-9 named Ranger located Bradley and attacked him, resulting in the loss of his right eye, as shown in graphic body camera footage released last September.
The incident sparked outrage throughout the Gainesville community: a protest July 17, 2022 and a people’s investigation July 23, 2022. Family members and residents alike pressured the police to make the facts of Bradley’s encounter with law enforcement known.
The police chief suspended Ranger after the incident.
Two GPD officers were also suspended Sept. 8, 2022, for comments made after Bradley’s arrest and after an internal investigation revealed they took pictures during the arrest, TV20 reported.
The K-9 unit has gone back and forth in terms of reinstatement and disbandment since Bradley’s attack.
City Manager Cynthia Curry announced the new hiatus of the Gainesville Police Department’s K-9 force March 4, two weeks after it had been reinstated. The unit’s status will be reevaluated when city staff creates the budget for the next fiscal year.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Emma at ebehrmann@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @emmabehrmann.
Emma Behrmann is a fourth-year journalism major and the Fall 2023 digital managing editor. In the past, she was metro desk editor, K-12 education reporter and a university news assistant. When she's not reporting, she's lifting at the gym.
