San Jose to pay Hell's Angels $800,000

SAN JOSE CA (UPI) -- The city of San Jose, Calif., will pay the Hell's Angels motorcycle club almost $800,000 in damages for shooting three members' dogs during a police raid.

The settlement closes a 1999 lawsuit against the city by the club and 10 people associated with a strip club where the shootings occurred in January 1998 as part of a murder investigation, KTVU-TV, San Jose reported.

In the suit, club attorney Karen Snell argued the shootings were an unconstitutional taking of property because police knew the dogs were at the raid locations and took no steps to restrain or capture them.

"They were beloved pets. They were very, very close to the families and the families were devastated," Snell said.

Earlier this year, Santa Clara County paid $990,000 to settle their share of liability in the lawsuit.

The suit went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, but the court refused to hear it, in effect ruling for the Hell's Angels.