Most police dogbite victims are men
Some studies suggest that in some cities, Black men are disproportionately impacted.
Investigations into the police department in Ferguson, Missouri, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have both found dogs bit non-White people almost exclusively.
A statistical study found that police dog bites sent roughly 3,600 people to emergency rooms each year from 2005 to 2013; almost all were male and Black men were overrepresented.
Arizona man mauled by police dog during arrestPatrick Gibbons was mauled by a police dog in Scottsdale, Arizona, in May 201 He was injured while being arrested for driving a golf cart while intoxicated and stealing the golf cart. Gibbons received a settlement form the city for his injuries.Celina Fang/The Marshall Project
A swarm of patrol cars responded while Gibbons, wearing shorts and flip flops, laughed and gave police the finger. After they punctured the cart’s tires to stop it, Gibbons put his hands up. Then, an officer released the patrol dog, police video shows.
For almost two minutes, the dog chewed on Gibbons’ back and side. Police said Gibbons was “flinging the K-9 from side to side,” according to an internal affairs report, and they fired non-lethal weapons at him.
“I couldn’t move without feeling some sort of pain,” Gibbons said. “There’s still stiffness. Now I just tell people I was attacked by a shark.”
Gibbons received a $100,000 settlement from the city for his injuries, but said he’s dissatisfied that criminal and internal investigations cleared officers of any wrongdoing. Gibbons said he took a plea deal for driving while intoxicated and stealing the golf cart, spending 36 days in jail and five months on home arrest.
A Scottsdale police spokesman said officers received the call as a reported carjacking and believed they were responding to a violent felony. He said Gibbons also refused police demands to stop the golf cart. If officers realized the true situation, their response would have been “wholly and completely different,” said Sgt. Brian Reynolds.
“We’re not out just siccing dogs on people just because they’re drunk,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
Some of the most serious injuries happen when handlers struggle to make dogs let go.
In Sonoma County, California, sheriff’s deputies responded to a caller who claimed a man had a gun. They used a Taser on Jason Anglero-Wyrick, a 35-year-old Black man. After he was on the ground, video shows, they set a dog on him — and had a hard time getting it to stop attacking. Anglero-Wyrick ended up with a fist-sized hole in his calf, his lawyer said, and spent weeks in the hospital. He did not have a weapon.
Anglero-Wyrick’s family put a video of the incident on YouTube, his lawyer said, because they wanted the public to see what happened.
“If that video hadn’t been posted, nobody would know about Jason’s case,” said his lawyer, Izaak Schwaiger.
A Sonoma County sheriff’s spokeswoman said the case is still under internal investigation and referred a reporter to a video of the incident posted to the agency’s Facebook page.
No matter how well trained the dog is or how experienced the handler, considerable risk always exists in that the handler will lose control of the dog, thereby making it foreseeable that handler will be unable to quickly stop an attack or prevent the dog from attacking the wrong person or attacking in inappropriate contexts. These risks must be minimized to ensure the safety of the public and the suspects these dogs are trained to attack.
Richard Polsky, Ph.D. is the President of Animal Behavior Counseling Services, Inc. Dr. Polsky is an academically trained animal behaviorist with over 30 years’ experience working with dogs in applied settings. He is well-published in peer-reviewed journals and has extensive experience of testifying in court as a dog bite expert. Dr. Polsky has helped hundreds of attorneys gain favorable outcomes for their clients. More information about his background, qualifications, and resources for attorneys handling dog bite cases can be found at http://www.dogexpert.com. Email [email protected].
Police departments may choose to keep a K-9 in service despite their knowledge that the dog has a history of inappropriately biting people. An example is an incident that happened in Coconut Creek, Florida in February 2015. The handler of a four-year-old Belgian Malinois named Renzo met with several other police officers in a parking lot at Dunkin’ Donuts. The handler left Renzo in the squad car. One of the officers approached the car to pet Renzo, and this caused Renzo to lunge at the officer. Renzo then leaped out of the vehicle and viciously attacked a donut shop worker present in the vicinity.
First, determine if any medical or behavioral problems existed before the incident (e.g., excessive barking, thyroid levels, skin problems, arthritis, separation anxiety, etc.), or if the dog required remedial work for certification. Moreover, find out about previous aggressive displays and the circumstances when the dog growled, snarled, chased, barked, lunged at, jumped on, or bit a fellow officer, an innocent bystander, or any human or dog.
The reason innocent bystanders are attacked by police dogs is understood best through animal behavior analysis. Namely, when these dogs are in the midst of searching for a suspect, they are highly motivated to find a person to attack. Usually, the dog finds the suspect, but all too often the wrong person is attacked. These dogs are on a mission and are goal driven. The act of searching for the suspect and the anticipation of biting a suspect is a reward in itself. Hence, it is not surprising that at times these dogs make mistakes and attack a person other than the suspect they were seeking.
This is Why The Police Use These Dogs
Police dogs have assisted law enforcement officers for over a century, and they provide talents humans simply don’t possess. K-9 units can track suspects by scent, pursue fleeing criminals much faster than human officers, and locate illegal substances, such as drugs or bombs.
Despite the numerous advantages they provide law enforcement, they’re trained to attack in certain situations and are capable of inflicting severe wounds. Police dogs are taught to bite and hold. They know to bite with more force than civilian dogs are typically capable of, and once they latch onto a suspect, they don’t let go. Although they’re meant to make law enforcement officers’ jobs easier and provide unique advantages in the field, police dogs are still capable of inflicting serious undue harm.