A north Alabama man filed a federal lawsuit this week against 10 police officers as well as the city of Sheffield after a police dog attacked him on his front porch two years ago.

The federal lawsuit asserts that police had no reason to be on Marvin Long’s property nor to suspect him of a crime. The dog bit Long’s leg after police took him to the ground, according to the lawsuit. Body camera footage released by his attorneys shows Long on the ground as an officer shouts, “Bite him! Bite him!”

Related: Unarmed Black Alabama man’s lawyers obtain bodycam footage showing police dog attack ‘for no reason’

The lawsuit said the encounter with police began when Long, who is Black, stepped outside his home in Sheffield – a small northwest Alabama town that is part of the Shoals region – because of a large police presence on his street on June 21, 2021.

Police arrested Long on charges of resisting arrest and obstruction. A judge in Sheffield City Court found him not guilty of the obstruction charge, court records show. He faces trial on the misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest.

After he was released from jail, Long went to the hospital for treatment of the dog bite wound on his left leg, a knot on his head and back pain, according to the lawsuit. The suit says Long suffered the head and back injuries when police took him to the ground.

“It’s sickening,” Long attorney Harry Daniels said in a press release Monday announcing the lawsuit. “We expect to see this kind of brutality on old news reels or hear stories about it from our parents or grandparents. But here it is, in 2023. Apparently not much has changed in Alabama in 60 years.”

[Read our series Mauled: When police dogs are weapons]

Keith Worsham, the attorney for the city of Sheffield, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Edgar Black, the attorney for Colbert County, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Long is suing Colbert County deputies Daniel Cruise, Tommy Mills, Bradley Skipworth, Curtis Burns, Jonathan Harkins, Tim Vanderford and Tyler Evans, as well as the following Sheffield police officers: Max Dotson, Brett Evans and Darien Fountain. The lawsuit says each defendant filed to intervene and stop the attack.

According to the lawsuit, Long walked into the street “out of concern” after noticing the police presence in his neighborhood. Long walked near a law enforcement vehicle but never touched it, the lawsuit said. Evans told Long to get away from the car or he would be charged with obstruction. Long walked away from the vehicle before questioning the deputy’s order, according to the lawsuit and body camera footage his lawyers obtained and released to the press earlier this month.

Read more: Police dog attacks are an ugly secret in Alabama

Mills, another deputy, then cursed at Long, telling him to “kick rocks motherf—–” and referred to him by another profane term, according to the lawsuit.

Long continued walking away, the lawsuit said, and eventually reached his front porch. After arresting two of Long’s neighbors in connection with a drug raid, the deputies and police officers approached Long as he stood on the porch. Long repeatedly told law enforcement officers to leave his property, the lawsuit said, and they refused.

Long then turned to go inside his house, the lawsuit said, and “without legal cause or just provocation,” the law enforcement officers “brutally grabbed” Long to prevent him from entering the house.

“As a result, (Long) instantly collapsed to the ground in pain while being violently slammed and aggressively wrestle Long on the ground as he was grabbing onto the porch railing and screaming for “Help! Help!”

Law enforcement officials then began to frisk Long “without probable cause or Long’s consent,” the lawsuit said.

“Further, without legal justification while (Long) was lying on the ground helpless and in severe pain, an officer (Nick Risner) released a police K-9 that viciously attacked and mauled (Long),” the lawsuit said. “Officer Nick Risner yelled over and over to the police K-9, ‘bite him! bite him! get him! good!’

Risner, a Sheffield police K-9 handler, died Oct. 2, 2021 – a day after being shot in the line of duty during a shootout in Muscle Shoals. Dotson was also shot in the same incident.

Long continues to suffer as a result of the attack, the lawsuit said, including PTSD-type symptoms. The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages that include medical bills as well as punitive and other damages.

Atlanta-based attorney Harry Daniels and Birmingham lawyer Roderick Van Daniel filed the lawsuit on Long’s behalf.

“These officers weren’t satisfied with violating Mr. Long’s civil rights and siccing their police dog on him while he was unarmed, defenseless and crying for help. They made up circumstances so they could charge him with a crime,” Van Daniel said in the press release. “If we let criminal cops assault an innocent man and then charge him for the crime, none of us are safe.”