Jurors View Police Dog That Mauled Boy, 2 1/2 : Lawsuits: The attorney for Oxnard admits the city is liable. Max attacked the boy at an officer’s home in 1988.

A powerful Oxnard police dog named Max walked obediently through a Ventura County courtroom Friday so that jurors could compare him in size to a picture of the toddler he mauled 2 1/2 years ago.

The Superior Court jury is hearing a lawsuit filed by the family of Wesley Eaton, now 5, against the Oxnard Police Department for emotional distress the boy suffered in the attack. It is one of four civil actions filed against the department since 1987 by people who claim that they were attacked by police dogs.

As Max eagerly obeyed commands to sit in front of the jury, his thick, wagging tail knocked over the 35-inch-high pasteboard sketch of Wesley, whom he attacked on March 17, 1988, at the home of his handler, Oxnard Police Officer James E. O’Brien.

Jurors laughed--a little nervously--and Max was led away, still wagging his tail and faithfully obeying O’Brien’s commands.

Oxnard’s attorney, Becky McCarthy, has admitted that the city is liable for the attack on Wesley, but she said Friday that the trial still has to determine how much the city should pay for his injuries. The suit seeks an unspecified amount.

The attack occurred when Wesley’s mother, Janet Eaton, took him with her to visit O’Brien, who is a family friend. As she stood at the front door talking with O’Brien’s wife, Wesley wandered into the back yard.

Max allegedly attacked the boy and bit his head and neck before O’Brien came outside and separated them.

Earlier Friday, the jurors heard testimony that the wounds showed that Max took Wesley’s entire head in his mouth and bit down, leaving punctures on his neck and a 2-inch gash in his scalp.

Wesley was so upset that he had to be given sedatives and painkillers before his wounds could be cleaned and sutured, testified Dr. William Starr, who worked on the boy in the St. John’s Hospital emergency room.

David Eaton testified that he counted 23 puncture wounds on his grandson’s body after the attack.

“I could not tell whether they were from the paws or from the teeth. It appeared that the jaws of the dog were dug in,” David Eaton testified before breaking down in tears.

He recovered and added, “He would have been looking into the dog’s mouth. There were teeth marks under his chin, and a terrible gash in his forehead.”

After the attack, Wesley’s wounds healed, but he became more subdued and suffered nightmares about dog attacks, according to testimony.

David Eaton testified that his grandson no longer climbs into his lap and prefers to play by himself, sometimes switching restlessly between watching TV and trying to force puzzle pieces into spaces they won’t fit.

After the jurors left, Richard Bredlau, attorney for the Eatons, told Judge Melinda Johnson that he wanted a chance to demonstrate Max’s viciousness to the jury with a courtroom demonstration or videotape of the dog in action. O’Brien praised Max profusely and patted his head, which made Max appear to be “a good dog,” Bredlau said.

“The conduct of the dog and the comments of the officer were obviously to engender the feeling in the jury that he was such a nice dog, how could he hurt anybody?” Bredlau said. “The dog once attacked his own master, biting him in the face.”

But Johnson stuck by a ruling that forbids any testimony about Max’s earlier attack on O’Brien. And she denied Bredlau’s request for a demonstration of Max’s “attack mode,” saying that O’Brien will be allowed to testify about Max’s nature when commanded to attack.