A police dog team has been taken off duty after the animal bit a man in a Christchurch park while he was letting off fireworks with his partner and her daughter.
At 10.30pm last Thursday Adam Brooks was in the Waltham park when he noticed two silhouettes coming toward them.
"I saw two people come in zig-zagging across the park," he said.
The sound of chains rattling in the darkness was followed moments later by an alsatian, which jumped on Brooks, leaving claw marks on his arms. "I was shaking like a leaf afterwards," he said.
"They didn't identify themselves, they just pulled the dog off me. One cop came over and said, `Oh, did he bite you?' I was concerned about the way they were so blase."
Brooks said he would lay a complaint with the police about the incident.
Senior Sergeant Steve Mather said this was the first time a police dog had bitten a member of the public in his three years as Canterbury dog section manager.
"If it reoccurred the dog would be retired. They are trained to bite on command and in defence of themselves."
The dog team was undergoing mandated performance assessment to ensure this type of incident would not reoccur. He said police dogs were regularly trained in a wide range of public places to ensure they could operate effectively.
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