LOCKPORT, N.Y. – The parents of a western New York man killed in a car crash are suing county officials after the coroner there took a piece of their son's body for use in a dog-training exercise.
Roger Dunn, 32, died April 13, 2012, in an auto wreck in Cambria.
After his death, Niagara County Coroner Russell Jackman gave some tissue from the crash scene to a volunteer fire chief who was training a dog to sniff out human remains.
Both men later resigned and pleaded guilty to misdemeanors over their conduct. They also apologized.
Each was fined $1,000 and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and write letters of apology to the Dunns.
The Buffalo News reports that Dunn's parents, Danny and Anita, filed a lawsuit this week against the county, the former coroner, the ex-chief and the Cambria Volunteer Fire Company.
County officials who investigated the mishandling of the remains had called it a well-intentioned mistake.
Niagara County Sheriff James Voutour said at the time that training dogs with cadavers is standard procedure but added, "There are legal means to obtain cadaver parts. ... They didn't follow those legal guidelines."
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