When she got the call that something or someone had tripped the security alarm at Oak Hill Montessori School in Shoreview, teacher Mary Santelman hopped into her white minivan and headed out to shut it off.
Another false alarm, she thought. She would key in her code, reset the system and be on her way.
But this Saturday evening, her code didn't quiet the deafening alarm. And Santelman, who is 52, ended up in the hospital, a victim of a police dog scouting for an intruder.
It took 200 stitches — about 11 inches of surgical thread — to close her wounds, the worst about the size of an orange on the back of her left leg. A gash on the front of the leg was 5 inches long. The dog, a German shepherd, left teeth punctures and bruises on her right leg and ankle, as well. Though sympathizing with Santelman, Lt. Mike Salter, a spokesman for the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department, said deputies Gary Pearl and Ginger Kell followed police procedure before letting the dog loose to search the building about 6 p.m. on Jan. 10.
Santelman's account of what happened differs from reports filed by deputies. She says she was not warned to stay outside the building, and she did not hear warnings that a dog would be let loose.
In her report, however, Kell says that she warned Santelman to stay outside the school, recalling her words as "… You wait. There's an open door in the rear, and we're going inside to search.''
There have been "thousands of apprehensions," but only two or three incidents similar to this since the department started using trained canines about 1980, according to deputy Bruce Jerome, head trainer for the department's canines. Last year, a 14-year-old girl was bitten on the leg but not seriously injured when she came between a police dog and a suspect.
Though she has returned teaching infants and toddlers at Oak Hill, Santelman spent two weeks at home recuperating and one week working part-time because of her injuries.
The night of the incident, Santelman says she drove into the lot and saw two sheriff's vehicles. She yelled to Kell that she was a teacher responding to the alarm.
She says she had responded three or four times in the previous month to false security alarms at the school. Motion detectors sometimes are triggered when heat comes on in the morning and causes children's work hanging on walls to sway, principal Meg Angevinesaid.
Santelman says Kell stood near a corner of the school building and shouted at her. "Her only words to me were 'There's an open door.' If they would have told me there was a canine anywhere, I wouldn't have gone in.''
After yelling to Santelman, according to police reports, Kell headed around the south side of the building toward the west end, where Pearland his canine partner Max waited near an unlocked basement door. School staff think the door was left unlocked accidentally in connection with repair work the day before.
Santelman says she headed to the door on the north end of the school, stepping inside the vestibule to key in her security number and disengage the thunderous alarm. Security strobes flashed off and on.
When her code did not work, Santelman says she unlocked an inner door and stepped into the school. She walked into the administrator's office to find phone numbers for staff with alternative codes.
At the basement entrance, according to official reports, Pearl called out loudly and clearly: "Sheriff's department canine. Come out now, or I will send the dog.'' He said he repeated the announcement twice more, pausing each time to listen for a response.
Hearing none, he let Max loose, but the dog found no one. Reports indicate Pearl repeated the procedure at a door to the upper level near classrooms, then set Max loose again.
Some 60 yards down and around a winding hallway from the office, Santelman stood behind a desk. She says she saw the dog approach. "I told myself, just stay still and don't look it in the eye.''
She said that didn't help. Max's teeth tore open the back of her left leg, leaving a gaping wound and a flap of flesh. "I could feel the flesh and feel the blood — then I just screamed for help as loud as I could,'' she said.
Hysterical, she clung white-knuckled to the desk, feeling her life depended on it, she said. "I thought, if I go down, he's really going to maul me.'' Thick blue jeans protected her legs from more severe injuries.
Deputies responded to Max's bark.
According to law enforcement accounts, they found Santelman sobbing and injured. Pearl called off the dog, then ran for a first-aid kit. He radioed for an ambulance as Kell phoned 911 for medical help because she could not hear Pearl's radio call. Neither had heard Santelman's cries.
Kell's report details conversation with Santelman. "What are you doing here? I told you we were searching the building,'' Kell recounted in her report.
According to Kell, Santelman answered: "I know, I misunderstood.''
"I never said that,'' Santelman said in an interview.
Santelman was screaming when she arrived a few minutes after the attack, Angevine said.
Though calling this a tragic outcome, St. Paul police spokesman Paul Schnell says the dogs are a "worthwhile tool'' to ensure the safety of human officers, especially in searches.
Dealing with armed felons, the dogs are invaluable and expendable, law enforcement experts say.
"The dog and Gary did exactly what they are trained to do,'' Jerome said. Once a dog spies a suspect, it bites and holds, unless the suspect flinches or otherwise moves, prompting another grab or bite he said.
Max has been doing police work for more than two years. The dog is trained according to U.S. Police Canine Association guidelines and tested every year.
"These dogs are better trained and better controlled than most people's pets,'' Jerome said.
Some bruises have faded, but Santelman administers dressings and medicines daily to aid healing and reduce scars. She wears a gauze bandage and an elastic sleeve on her left calf to reduce the swelling. "Every step I take, I have pain,'' she said.
Since the incident, Santelman says she has nightmares and startles easily. "Using unleashed canine dogs in a school setting is not justified," she said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cynthia Boyd can be reached at cboyd@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2116.
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.