A Lisbon police dog seriously injured a 9-year-old girl while the dog was at home, off duty.
Tianna Linton of Lewiston was visiting her uncle's house and helping to set up a yard sale a week ago when she went into a porch area to get some books for the sale, her mother said.
The German shepherd lunged at her and as she flung up her arm to protect herself, the dog latched onto the back of her elbow, ripping open a baseball-sized wound, her mother said.
The girl screamed and when people came running, the dog retreated.
"It's horrifying," said Wendy Doyon, Tianna Linton's mother, who learned of the attack by telephone and raced to the emergency room of St. Mary's Hospital. "Thankfully, she's alive and thankfully it didn't get her face."
The dog's handler, who is Linton's uncle, Sgt. Scott Stewart, says that as unfortunate as it is, the incident is being exaggerated, that it occurred inside his house and his niece wasn't supposed to be exposed to the dog. He says the dog has never bitten anyone else, including his two children, who are 10 and 15.
"I've had the dog for five years and it hasn't been a problem," Stewart said. "I don't understand what I could have done different."
Stewart says his niece was told not to enter the house where the dog was being kept, and that it was just being territorial.
He says the incident should have no bearing on the dog's police career. "Anyone who has a dog can understand how this happens," he said.
But Doyon says the dog, named Jag, is dangerous. At the least, she says, it should be kicked off the force and kept in a cage so it is not a danger to anyone else. When she's feeling especially angry, she thinks the dog should be put down.
"I'm a parent of this community and near that community. That dog is a danger to the community," she said.
Neither Stewart nor Doyon was there when the attack happened.
As many as 800,000 dog bites a year in the United States require medical attention, and more than half involve children. The insurance industry paid $345 million in dog-bite liability claims in 2002, up from $250 million in 1995, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
"I think it's one of the commoner reasons why plastic surgeons are called to the emergency room," said Dr. Sanjay Mukerji, a plastic surgeon based in Auburn. "Sometimes children just happen to startle the dog or it feels its territory is being invaded."
Most serious bites of children under 10 are facial injuries, which can scar a child physically and psychologically.
"Once you have a scar, it's permanent," Mukerji said. "Even having a plastic surgeon there doesn't mean you won't have scars. It's just trying to improve the quality of the scar and make it as inconspicuous as possible."
Doyon, whose daughter received 20 stitches for her injury, has retained a lawyer. Doyon says her daughter is traumatized by the encounter and she hasn't been impressed by the Lisbon Police Department's lack of reaction.
"I just feel like the police aren't doing enough," she said. "I feel helpless as a parent at this point."
Lisbon Police Chief David Brooks could not be reached by telephone last week.
There is no requirement in Maine that police dogs be certified, though Stewart and Jag have been through extensive training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, a spokesman said.
Temperament does count when dogs are going through patrol dog school and other classes, said Alan Hammond, the academy's training manager.
"I know at least two dogs that have washed out of the canine program because of poor temperament," he said.
Jag is the department's only canine and is trained as a patrol dog, to track suspects and to sniff out narcotics. Although the dog was donated, the department has invested heavily in training for the canine team.
Beth Murphy, staff researcher, contributed to this story.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6326 or at: dhench@pressherald.com
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.