A Fond du Lac Police Department officer whose K-9 bit a 12-year-old boy will receive disciplinary action in the form of a community service requirement, Fond du Lac Police Chief Tony Barthuly said on Wednesday.
Barthuly said K-9 Aron will be put back into service because he believes the incident was “more of an officer error” than the fault of the police dog. Officer Steve Endries will be allowed to continue working with his K-9 partner Aron.
Discipline for Endries involves “community service activities with him and his partner to help rebuild trust in the dog,” Barthuly said. He said suspension was not a part of disciplinary action taken toward Endries.
“The goal here is so that it won’t happen again,” Barthuly said. “I am positive and assured this incident will not be repeated in the future.”
Endries let Aron outside the morning of April 9 while at a friend’s home. The dog ran into a nearby yard, located at 612 Ledgeview Blvd., and bit 12-year-old Spencer Wahl while the boy was playing with a ball. Spencer was taken to Urgent Care where he was treated for a laceration and bruising on his right thigh resulting from the dog bite.
“To the family and the boy, we feel it’s very unfortunate this incident occurred, and we’ll make every effort so that it doesn’t happen again,” Barthuly said. “We appreciate their understanding in this matter.”
Barthuly said although Endries will be disciplined, he is still a qualified canine handler who demonstrates outstanding dedication and performance to the K-9 unit.
“He’s our most experienced K-9 handler,” Barthuly said. “He’s a dedicated handler and police officer, and no one has to tell him a mistake has been made. He feels terrible.”
Barthuly added that K-9 Aron is very efficient and just apprehended a suspect three weeks ago. He said he does not feel the dog poses a threat to the community.
Barthuly said the department had experts who deal with K-9s review the situation. The experts’ opinions, along with Endries’ past performance, were taken into consideration for the disciplinary action.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.