Repression and Police Dog Abuse - Archive (2001 and earlier)

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• Pr. George's Police Beset By Own Dogs (Dec. 29, 2001 / Washington Post) A powerful expolsé of K9 department brutality and abuse. Excerpts:

  "Since 1990, police dogs trained to apprehend suspects in Prince George's have instead attacked and mauled police officers, canine handlers and other law enforcement agents at least 43 times, according to public records and other documents. In one case, an FBI agent was forced to shoot a police dog that attacked him during a standoff with a gunman. One corporal suffered bite wounds to the arm and stomach -- and then was bitten on the face two months later. A German shepherd named King attacked its police handler three times and sent as many as 40 other people to the hospital during its career...."

  "Court records and interviews indicated that police canine officers sometimes allowed their dogs to attack whomever they encountered and at times ordered them to bite suspects who had been handcuffed or otherwise subdued...."

  "According to federal and state court records, Prince George's has settled 17 excessive-force lawsuits against its canine unit in the past four years -- including four settlements since August. In 14 of the cases, county lawyers required the plaintiffs to sign out-of-court agreements promising to keep the financial terms secret. Since 1999, juries also have awarded $4.2 million in damages to two people who said they were maimed by police dogs and beaten by their handlers. Seven lawsuits against the canine unit are pending in federal and state courts, including four filed last month...."

  "Police officials... refused to disclose basic information about the squad, such as how many civilians have been bitten by police dogs or details of the attacks...."

  "Although Prince George's police officials refused to disclose how often their dogs bite civilians, newly available court records indicate that they have bitten more than 100 people a year."

  "Nationally, no one tracks the number or nature of bites by police dogs...."

  "[Russ Hess, executive director of the U.S. Police Canine Association] questioned whether dogs trained to bark first are any less likely to bite in the end. He said most people cornered by a growling police dog will try to flee, prompting the animal to attack...."

  "On April 26, 1995, Cpl. Todd A. Landers and a posse of officers were searching for a slaying suspect in Palmer Park when they spotted a pedestrian they wanted to question. Landers ordered the man to stop and lie on the ground, or else he'd unleash Moe. The man, Rayford N. Hamlett Jr., obeyed the command but suffered the consequences anyway -- the dog "bit, clawed and mauled" him on his right shoulder, arms and back while he lay facedown on the pavement, according to a lawsuit he filed against Landers and the county. It turned out that Hamlett was not the person police were looking for, just an innocent bystander. The county settled his lawsuit under terms that remain confidential. Landers did not return phone calls seeking comment...."

  "One month after Hamlett was bitten, a team of FBI agents and Prince George's police officers surrounded a gunman at a shopping center in Greenbelt. Two FBI agents traded fire with the fugitive and ducked for cover when, suddenly, a furry blur of gnashing teeth rushed them head-on. It was Moe. Landers had released the dog to apprehend the gunman, but the beast attacked FBI agents David C. Raymond and Edward Ryan instead, biting Raymond on the hand and leg. 'I kicked the dog and [we] yelled for the handler to call off his dog, but there was no response,' Raymond said in a written statement given to police. 'The dog charged at me again. Ryan fired twice at the dog and I fired once. The dog was hit and retreated.' By the time the bullets stopped flying, the gunman was dead and the dog had bitten another Prince George's officer..... [A]t an awards ceremony a year later, the police brass told a different story about what happened during the shootout. During the ceremony, police credited Landers and his dog with responsibility for the gunman's demise, noting that Moe heroically took a bullet in the chest. Who shot the dog -- and why -- was left unmentioned.... Moe and Landers were bestowed with the Gold Medal of Valor, the police department's highest honor. They also shared the title of police officer of the year."

• Bark or bite? - Feds push for gentler use of police dogs (Dec. 9, 2001 / Cincinnati Enquirer)

• The November 17 2001 Ottawa Dog Attacks: (See the Citizens Panel on Policing and the Community" site for more thorough documentation than that provided here). See: Police Under Scrutiny (April 10, 2002 / Peace and Environment News); The facts support the protesters (Nov. 19, 2001) by Susan Riley, Ottawa Citizen; The Dogs of Democracy (Nov. 21, 2001) by Krystalline Kraus. Excerpt from the latter:
  "... once protesters were made to lie down and arrested, the police would put dogs on them - after they had been handcuffed. She had footage of police breaking up the crowd with dogs. Her video shows dogs rearing up on their hind legs, their teeth bared, their saliva flying. The police would periodically increase the length of a leash to scare demonstrators.... Several cases of dog bites were confirmed. A medic explained that dog bites can result in puncture wounds and crush injuries."

  Also see: G-20 makes promises, protesters make noise (Nov. 18, 2002 / CBC) Excerpt: "Police dogs attacked several people, including journalists covering the protests. CBC Radio's Evan Dyer said an officer hit him even after he had identified himself as a reporter. A police dog also bit Dyer...."

• Attack Dogs used against German Anti-Nuke Protesters - a follow-up open letter denouncing various forms of abuse (including police dog abuse) suffered by protesters during anti-nuclear protests in late October/ early November 2001

• Court told of police dog attack (August 17, 2001 / The Argus) - "...A police dog would not let go of a woman's leg even when struck by his handler, a jury heard. Flesh from Kelly White's leg was strewn around after she was bitten by the Rottweiler, Hove Crown Court was told...."

• The Jaws of Justice: Use of Police Dogs Raises Debate About Use-of-Force Fairness (July 30, 2001 / ABC). "...These days, police dogs are even being fitted for titanium teeth on their canine incisors to protect their teeth. The effect is even more frightening for those who find themselves in the glare of a snarling canine officer...." For more on 'titanium teeth', see: Metal teeth give US police dog a new bite (April 22, 2002 / Sunday Telegraph).

• $400,000 for victim of police dog attack (July 3, 2001 / San Francisco Chronicle) Relatives of a Richmond boy mauled by a police dog praised a jury award of $400,000 but said yesterday that the 6-year-old still fears dogs and police officers nearly four years after the attack. A Contra Costa County Superior Court jury ordered the city last week to compensate Adam Corona for the attack in his backyard in October 1997 by a 60- pound Belgian Malinois named Marco...."

• Gothenberg protest report (June 2001). Excerpt:

  "Police halted the march with a carefully placed barricade. Then they started batoning people at the front of the march.... Within seconds of the baton assault a snarling pack of police dogs and their handlers suddenly appeared. They tore into the march and dozens of protesters needed treatment for bite wounds. Seconds later baton-wielding mounted police charged into the rear of the demonstration. Only after these assaults did some protesters start throwing stones. Some went on to vent their rage at shops along the city's main street, mainly hitting symbols of the global system like McDonald's...."

• ICD Status Report - May 2001 (May 4, 2001 / ICD) - includes six cases of abuse involving dog units in South Africa, including one in which a victim died, and another in which a victim's ear was chewed off.

• 10 -Year-Old Girl Attacked by K-9 (April 9, 2001 / LA Times). "A 10 -year-old girl was bitten by a police dog after officers who believed an alarm had gone off in the home put the dog in through a window. The address given to police by the alarm company was wrong, police said...."

• Police dog bites St. Petersburg woman (March 22, 2001 / St. Petersburg Times)

• Victim of police dog attack speaks out (Feb. 1, 2001 / SABC News) - Another South African case of abuse. "...Xolani Bawule, the traumatised victim says the dogs were set on him by police because he was drunk. He says one dog was set on him, but claims when police realised the animal was not doing any harm, they released a bigger and more vicious dog...."

• Somalis tell of their bloody lesson in plight of refugees (January 18, 2001 / Cape Argus, Capetown) "...Witnesses said the policemen had said they were checking if the dogs could still bite, and when one of the victims' friends asked the m to control the dog, one said: "Don't tell me what to do you f----ing foreigners". Ahmed's arms were lacerated, Hassan was bitten on the legs and feet and Omar was bitten on the buttocks...."

• South African Cops Caught on Tape (Dec. 17, 2000) Excerpts:

  "A videotape showing white police officers setting dogs on three black men, beating them and shouting racial slurs has outraged a nation ashamed of its apartheid past and sharpened debate on the pace of change."

  "The videotape, broadcast Tuesday on state television, apparently was filmed two years ago by one of the policemen during the attack. The officers said the attack was staged as a training exercise for the dogs. News reports said the officers later showed the tape for entertainment."
  
  

  
  
  

  Excerpt from In the Jaws of Racism (Nov. 11, 2000 / City Press):

  The trauma of the victims "was worsened when they saw the television footage of themselves being savaged by the dogs and mercilessly beaten by the policemen, who appeared to be enjoying the experience. They are pictured with terror in their eyes, kicking and screaming for mercy, as the fierce dogs tear into them while their handlers urge them on.... City Press has established the three were not immediately taken to the Benoni police station after their arrest. Instead, they were taken to an old mine dump in Springs, as seen on the video, where they were assaulted and bitten to shreds by the dogs. Bleeding and unable to walk unaided, they were dragged and pushed back into the police minibus - with the vicious dogs as company. They were taken to a hospital in Springs for treatment, then locked up at the Benoni police station before being deported to Mozambique three weeks later...."

  Further follow-up: Court Case Involving Dog Attack on Immigrants ; Guilty pleas in dog attack case (November 21, 2001 / Reuters); Police jailed over dog attack (Nov. 29, 2001 / CNN); and Police Brutality in South Africa (Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation); Two policemen charged with attacking blacks with dogs claim duress (Feb. 4, 2003); Two policemen charged with attacking blacks with dogs found guilty (March 5, 2003); Two more cop dog handlers convicted (March 5, 2003 / SAPA); Ex-police dog handlers jailed (August 5, 2003 / SAPA)

• South Armagh Demonstration Ends with Police Brutality (Dec. 17, 2000 / South Armagh Farmers' & Residents Committee) "...an attack dog was set upon the protest and two demonstrators were badly bitten...."

• Woman attacked by police dog to get $210,000 (Dec. 14, 2000 / AP) "...Officer Andrew Lehocky and his partner, an 80-pound police dog, entered the apartment and saw Ms. Patterson lying on the floor. Officer LeHocky said he warned the woman to show her hands several times. When she didn't, Officer LeHocky released the dog on her, according to police reports. Mr. Bregman said his client was asleep and unarmed when she was attacked by the dog...."

• British Columbia Police Complaint Commissioner denies request for public hearing in police dog brutality case (November 28, 2000 / OPCC) "Cst. Y. stated that when he arrived on the scene he called EHS. Cst. X. went to handcuff the complainant and while he was handcuffing him, the police dog, without command, bit the complainant on the leg. Cst. X. told the dog to "Out" and was finishing applying the handcuffs when the police dog, without command, attacked the complainant again...." Complaint Commissioner Don E. Morrison concludes that "it is not in the public interest to order a public hearing."

• Cop pleads guilty in police dog attack on sleeping homeless man FWD (Nov. 6, 2000 / AP).

  Excerpt: "Sgt. Dennis Bonn of the Takoma Park police department ... told the court that that he found two men on the roof of a building.... Officer Stephanie C. Mohr and Sgt. Anthony J. Delozier arrived with a dog and the two homeless men, who had been asleep on the roof, surrendered and posed no threat. Delozier then asked whether the dog could 'take a bite'. Bonn agreed and Mohr allegedly released the dog, which bit and injured one of the men...." See 2 Pr. George's Officers Indicted in Dog Attack (Sept. 21, 2000 / Washington Post) for an earlier report on this incident.

  For follow-up, see: Ex-Detective Admits Exaggerating Report In Police Dog Attack (March 10, 2001, Wash. Post) ; Police Dog Attack Case: Jury Deadlocked Over Details - Prince George's County MD USA (April 12, 2001 / Washington Post); Judge Drops Charge In Police Dog Attack On Homeless Man - MD USA (April 14, 2001 / Washington Post); Earlier Threats Can Impact Police Dog Trial (July 3, 2001 / Washington Post) ; and 1 Officer Guilty, 1 Acquitted In Pr. George's Dog Attack (August 16, 2001 / Washington Post). This last article includes a few details about two previous acts of police dog abuse in which Officer Stephanie Mohr was implicated. Both involved persons of colour. Stephanie Mohr was ultimately sentenced to 10 years in prison - see: Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison in K-9 Incident (Dec. 10, 2001 / Maryland District Attorney's Office)and Mohr Sentenced to 10 Years for Dog Bite (Legal Enforcement Legal Defence Fund) - the latter link includes a photo of Mohr.

  As for the consequences to other officers involved in the incident, see: Prince George's Trial Taints 4 Other Officers (August 25, 2001 / Washington Post).

  Finally, on Feb. 3, 2003 Stephanie Mohr's appeal was rejected. The official report on this decision - U.S. Court of Appeals - U.S.A. v. Stephanie Mohr - provides an excellent overview (which goes into considerable detail) of the case.

• Bark, Bite, Stun -- All in a Police Dog's Repertoire (Oct. 2000 / Reuters)

• Family sues over a bite from a police dog (July 5, 2000 / Montgomery County Observer)

• Police dog bites tent resident (June 28, 2000 / St. Petersburg Times) " 'I was minding my own business,' [Clyde] Hendrickson said. 'Not only that, they were out of their own jurisdiction. . . . I expect them to pay the hospital bill at least'.... "; Commentary from Clyde Hendrickson (May 3, 2004) "... I didn't know there were police there until I had been grabbed by the dog. Apparently the dog was far ahead of the officers and acting on its own, or inadequately controlled. Since the dog attacked me even though I obviously didn't have the scent it was tracking, it could have just as well attacked anyone. That could include very small children who typically would be playing in the immediate area. It appears that there was a serious problem with the training and handling of the dog...."

• Mail man in jaws of the law (June 8, 2000 / HoldtheFrontPageNews) -"Newspaper tipster Bob Downing was bitten by a police dog as he helped officers who were chasing a burglary suspect...."

• Commentary: PERSPECTIVE ON RACIAL PROFILING (May 3, 2000 / Op-ed for the Los Angeles Times by Connie Rice) Excerpt:

  "For years, Los Angelenos in poor minority neighborhoods complained that the LAPD's dogs unnecessarily mauled and maimed them...the LAPD dismissed as absurd the hundreds of complaints about its dogs. Even after the Christopher Commission noted troubling aspects of the unit's practices, the LAPD Police Commission continued to back police claims that its use of dogs was reasonable, not excessive, force. And by and large, so did juries."

  "That is, until we got the data. In Lawson vs. Gates,...we pooled dog bite victims into a class and demanded years of data on bite and hospitalization rates, deployment patterns, dog training and other information...The LAPD had claimed it used the dogs in minority areas because that's where crimes for which the dogs were trained disproportionately occurred. The data showed these crimes actually occurred at higher rates in nonminority communities. The LAPD adamantly denied using excessive force in arrests made with dogs. The data showed that in one year, 80% of arrests made with dogs resulted in bites and that 47% of the bites resulted in hospitalization. Yet in arrests for the same crimes made without dogs, less than 2% resulted in force and less than 1% in hospitalization.

  "The LAPD claimed with great indignation that racist attitudes played no role in dog use. Transcripts of squad car conversations, however, showed that officers commonly referred to black youths as 'dog biscuits' and to the unleashing of a dog as 'feeding time.' Because of our class-action K-9 case, the LAPD dogs have been retrained and bite rates must stay below 10% unless rationally explained."

• Met under fire after dog attack on black manager (March 25, 2000 / The Guardian) - "A black warehouse manager who was called to a suspected burglary was bitten several times by a police dog and clubbed with truncheons by police who presumed he was breaking into the building he is employed to protect, it was alleged yesterday. Stuart Melchor, 35, was left with seven deep bites on his thigh, and several wounds to his head after the incident outside a wholesaler, Blue Gem, in north-west London. He believes the assault may have been racially motivated...."

• Police dog faces another lawsuit (March 21, 2000 / Cape Cod Times)

• Hard Bitten: How a police dog wound up taking a $412,500 chunk out of Snohomish County taxpayers' pockets (March 5, 2000 / Daily Herald) A very significant article. One thing offered is an indication of just how much money is involved in police dog attack settlements. The out-of-court settlement involving 'Yukon' amounted to almost a half a million. But equally revealing are some of the details surrounding K9 department practices. "The city of West Palm Beach in Florida was found violating suspects' civil rights in the late 1980s. Officers reportedly kept scrapbooks of photographs of dog bites and some even painted tiny stars on their patrol cars to tally when their dog sank its fangs into a suspect...." Also see: Standards recommended for dog training (March 5, 2000 / Daily Herald), Police dog Yukon's record in Snohomish County (March 5, 2000 / Daily Herald).

• K-9 controversy (Nov. 29, 1999 / [Gainesville] Sun) "...dogs are used unfairly, sometimes in violation of a suspect's constitutional rights and, some say, too often against black suspects. One suspect, Stonny Barnett, has scars from Urk, who bit him in the leg as police arrested him outside his girlfriend's apartment. This arrest and others have prompted Gainesville attorney Robert Rush to file several lawsuits alleging that the use of dogs may, in some cases, violate a suspect's constitutional right to an arrest in a reasonable manner. Some speakers at the recent Police Community Committee meetings said police are far more likely to release the dogs on blacks. Police dogs, Rush said, "are great tools for tracking and following, but their utilization as a weapon is very problematic because it's a weapon that is not under complete control. Imagine issuing a firearm to an officer who could only control its discharge most of the time. That's what they do with dogs....' "

• Cops let dogs savage me, claims woman (Nov. 7, 1999 / Sunday Times, South Africa) "...Millicent Khumalo, 32, is still in hospital recovering from the injuries she sustained when two police officers allegedly hit her in the face last week, ripped off her shirt and then held her on the ground while their dogs savaged her on the legs, thighs and arms...."

• Police Dog Bites Child in North Van (October 18, 1999 / North Shore News) "A 2½-year-old boy was taken to hospital and received stitches on Monday after he was bitten on the hip by a West Vancouver Police dog..."

• Vancouver APEC Inquiry (June 4, 1999 / RCMP Public Complaints Commission) - At the 1997 anti-APEC demonstrations, police dogs were used to intimidate protesters, a policy which resulted in one protester being bitten. Scroll down to Jamie Doucette's testimony for details on this incident....

• City of Calgary and the Calgary Police Service sued for $40,000 (June, 1999 / Alberta Report) "Jennie Trang of Calgary is suing the City of Calgary and the Calgary Police Service for $40,000. Ms. Trang claims that on October 27, 1997, at approximately 5:48 a.m., she was walking toward a northeast Calgary bus stop when she was attacked from behind by a police dog, bitten in the buttocks, and dragged approximately 98 feet before the canine handler got his dog under control...."

• Amnesty International Report on Misuse of police dogs (1999 Report). Excerpt:

  Amnesty International has received disturbing reports of police dogs being used to attack and needlessly maul suspects in several jurisdictions. In February 1999, Roy Lynn Weeaks suffered severe injuries (including a nearly severed penis) when bitten in the groin by a dog attached to the Bakersfield Police Department’s canine unit in California. The police claim Weeaks was running away when the handler released the dog, but witnesses are reported to have said he had surrendered and was lying face-down on the ground when police ordered the dog to bite him. (Amnesty International’s request to the department for information on the outcome of their investigation into the case was denied by the city attorney’s office on the ground that the information was “protected” under state law. A civil lawsuit is pending.) In July 1998, a mentally disturbed woman suspected of killing her child was mauled by a police dog from the Sacramento Police Department as she lay, apparently unconscious, on a motel bed. A police report confirms that the dog was not called off until after she was placed in handcuffs; she sustained severe dogbite wounds to her thigh. There are reports of other unresisting suspects being bitten by dogs from the Sacramento police and the Sacramento sheriff’s departments’ canine units. In March 1998, a man stopped by sheriff’s deputies in Frederick County, Maryland, for driving erratically on the wrong side of the road (who turned out to be suffering from hypoglycemic shock) was reportedly beaten, pepper sprayed and repeatedly bitten by a police dog who was ordered into the car once it had come to a halt. He was reported to have suffered dogbite injuries to his arms and right thigh.

  In June 1999, the FBI opened a criminal investigation into an alleged pattern of brutality involving the canine unit of Prince George’s County Police Department, Maryland, following more than a dozen recent cases in which unresisting suspects - including several teenagers - were bitten and seriously injured by police dogs (in at least four incidents, according to civil lawsuits, officers ordered dogs to bite the victims after they were already subdued).43 The department subsequently announced that it would revise its policies to train dogs to “bark and guard” rather than bite suspects. The LAPD is reported to have seen a drop in dogbite injuries after introducing a similar policy in 1992. However, it appears that some departments may continue to train dogs to routinely bite suspects during searches or arrests.44 Amnesty International believes that such a practice is open to abuse and calls on all police agencies to introduce strict canine policies designed to minimize damage or injury, in accordance with international standards on the use of force. All departments should also require rigorous reporting procedures for incidents in which canines are deployed, and cases in which suspects are injured.

• South Africa police violence caught on film (May 1, 1999 / World Socialist) "...One piece of footage, screened on British and South African television, showed police officers in Brixton (Johannesburg) arresting two suspected car thieves. The men were handcuffed and forced to lie on the ground. The police officers then proceeded to kick the men in the face and set a police dog on them. One of the men had a cigarette stubbed out on his head and was then repeatedly struck with a rifle butt. Both men were later released without being charged...."

• FBI Probing Canine Unit; Lawsuits Recount Attacks By Pr. George's Police Dogs (April 1, 1999 / Washington Post)

  Includes details of 11 incidents of police dog abuse in the Prince George area (three involving K9 Unit Officer Stephanie Mohr). Excerpt: "Asleep in her own bed, napping in the early afternoon after working a late-night shift, Esther Vathekan was jolted awake by 'pain in my head, something lifting my head and shaking it.' A German shepherd nearly as big as the 96-pound Vathekan, was tearing away at the back of her scalp. Suddenly the dog released its powerful grip, stepped around and chomped into her head, its teeth tearing into flesh above and below Vathekan's right eye. She heard the bones cracking in her face. 'That's when I thought I was going to die,' said Vathekan, 50.... According to 18 lawsuits, Prince George's County police sometimes let dogs loose to attack whomever they encounter and, at other times, order them to bite suspects already subdued or handcuffed. In 10 of the 18 lawsuits, victims contend they were attacked even though they were not resisting arrest, were on the ground or were handcuffed. In four incidents, according to the lawsuits, officers ordered their dogs to bite the victims after they were already subdued...." See also FBI Investigating Pr. George's Canine Unit (Washington Post, same article as above).

• Police Sued for $25 Million (January 7, 1999) "A Temple Hills man is suing the Prince George's County police department, alleging that he was mauled by a police dog while he was handcuffed and lying face-down on the ground, though he was never charged with any crime...."

• Police guilty of dog cruelty (November 5, 1998 / BBC). "A police sergeant and two constables have been convicted of cruelty to police dogs by a magistrate. A third [sic] policeman was cleared of a similar charge. All four officers were based at the Essex Police Dog headquarters in Sandon when the incidents took place. One of the dogs - Acer - died after being kicked while hanging from his lead...." More articles from the same case:
  • Officers deny cruelty to dogs (October 12, 1998 / BBC);
  • Police told to 'string up' dogs (October 13, 1998 / BBC);
  • PC tells of the day he kicked dog to death (October 15, 1998 / Electronic Telegraph);
  • Police dog trainer weeps in court (October 27, 1998 / BBC) "....PC [Mark] Needham followed the instructions and kicked Acer several times. The dog was unable to carry on with further training exercises and died soon afterwards...." ;
  • Dogs punished with shocks and spikes (October 29, 1998 / BBC);
  • UK Police dog trainer was a 'fat little Hitler' (October 30, 1998 / BBC) Police constable Kenneth Boorman was "charged with instructing handlers to suspend their dogs over fences and kick them.... Peter Wain for the prosecution suggested the reason the dogs attacked their handlers might be related to PC Boorman's training methods....";
  • Animal groups call for dog training rules (November 6, 1998 / BBC);
  • Dog cruelty officers sacked (January 4, 1999 / BBC) "Two Essex police officers convicted of cruelty to police dogs have been dismissed from the force....";
  • Policeman abandons dog cruelty appeal (February 23, 1999 / BBC);
  • Police urged to drop dog 'shock collars' (Feb. 29, 2000 / BBC);
  • Police dog cruelty rules tightened (May 11, 2000 / BBC);
  • RSPCA lifts police dog ban (April 16, 2003 / BBC);

• Former inmate suing jail: Rodriguez says K-9 attack violated his rights (October 28, 1998, Times Herald-Record) "Michael A. Rodriguez charges the jail violated his constitutional rights when two correction officers allegedly commanded a K-9 named Maverick to viciously attack him on Aug. 5, 1996. The dog bit the former Montgomery man 50 times, leaving wounds three-quarters of an inch to two inches deep that needed 10 stitches to treat, according to his lawyer...."

• Cop guilty of assault (Sept. 16, 1998 / North Shore News) "[Const. Susan Tupper] heard [Const. Ron] MacDougall and the police dog approaching... MacDougall yelled at her to get out of the way... She stepped back from the charging dog and it bit the suspect on the back of the neck.... MacDougall then proceeded to kick Kasarei while the dog kept a firm jaw locked on the back of Kasarei's neck. 'Const. Tupper said he (MacDougall) kicked the prisoner (Kasarei) three or four times in the stomach and groin,' Halyk said. 'Kasarei assumed the fetal position and began crying while apologizing ... Const. Tupper said Const. MacDougall said, 'You think you can do a B&E?' and then dragged him (Kasarei) 10 feet with the dog still attached and kicked him once more.'... " Follow-up: Cop dogs get bit (Sept. 28, 1998 / North Shore News) North Vancouver provincial court Judge Jerome Paradis said he was "at the end of his rope" regarding the North Van Mounties' use of police dogs for "street justice," and upheld a criminal charge against Const. Ron MacDougall for having encouraged his K9 to bite a handcuffed suspect.

• Judge: Prison company hid or destroyed records (July 14, 1998 / Abilene Reporter-News) Police dog and stun guns were used in a private Texas prison shakedown...

• Biting Back (April 16, 1998 / New Times Broward - Palm Beach) "The day Faero bit Rusty Samarco's leg, tearing out a piece of it in the process, the dog was fulfilling his given role in law enforcement: finding and apprehending a hidden person suspected of committing a felony. In Samarco's case, though, the crime for which he was apprehended by Faero turned out not to be a felony after all.... 'To see your kid get bitten alive, I'd like to get that dog myself and break his neck,' says [Rusty's father] Phillip Samarco. 'I don't know how they can let a dog maim somebody for life and say it's right.'..." Excellent research and analysis here (note: included are details about two specific cases of fatal police K9 bites...).

• Seattle Police Dogs: All Bite, No Bark (October 15, 1996 / ACLU) "Saying Seattle police dogs are used too often and injure too many people, the American Civil Liberties Union opened a campaign Friday to restrict their use, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports...." See also Police Dogs and Seattle Police Dogs OK with Jury (January 3, 1997 / ACLU)

• Grandmother Joins List of Plaintiffs Alleging Attacks by Police Dogs (May 20, 1992 / Los Angeles Times) "Clara Mae Pierce, a 66-year-old grandmother, was attacked by a Los Angeles police dog when she stepped into her backyard. The police department’s K-9 unit was in her neighborhood in pursuit of a murder suspect on foot when the dog attacked Pierce and badly injured both of her legs. Pierce became a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU on the behalf of more than 900 people who had been mauled by police dogs in the previous three years."

• March 1990: Laurene MacLeod, 35, a homeless woman living in an abandoned house in Lake Worth, dies after deputies send a police dog into the house. In 1993, the Sheriff's Office agrees to pay her relatives $235,000.

• Click here for items regarding events further back in time

Links to additional reports which people wish to suggest for inclusion in this archive can be sent to Eric Squire at: g8alert@yahoo.com

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