Posted on 02/01/2010 7:17:02 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
SOUTH BEND — The South Bend Police Department is investigating whether officers behaved appropriately during a chase of a car theft suspect Sunday, a department official said.
Some police at the scene allege Cpl. Scott Ross mishandled his canine and scuffled with Cpl. Joshua Morgan after Morgan tried to shoot the dog, South Bend police spokesman Capt. Phil Trent confirmed.
"We're investigating what led to a shot (allegedly) being fired by an officer, what was the aftermath, and were all policies and procedures followed correctly," Trent said.
According to a police report, Morgan began chasing a teenager driving a stolen Oldsmobile about 3:45 p.m. Sunday.
Morgan chased the vehicle for about 3 miles before the driver crashed the car and began running away at the corner of Camden Street and Western Avenue, the report said. Morgan followed on foot.
Some officers' alleged version of events
The department is investigating what happened next.
Trent confirmed some officers at the scene have alleged the following occurred:
As Morgan was chasing the suspect, another officer, Cpl. Scott Ross, released his canine partner to help the chase.
For reasons that are not clear, the canine went after Morgan instead and attempted to bite him.
Morgan then fired at the canine, apparently in self-defense, but missed. He continued the pursuit as more officers arrived to help.
Officers caught the suspect in the back yard of a house in the 400 block of Liberty Street.
Meanwhile, Ross and Morgan began "swinging at each other" in the backyard after Ross became angry that Morgan shot at his dog.
As the dispute between Ross and Morgan continued, the canine began biting officers who were trying to arrest the suspect.
The canine bit Cpl. Dominic Hall on the left leg and then attacked Ptl. Jamil Elwaer on his upper left thigh, pinning him on the ground.
Other officers eventually pulled the dog off of Elwaer and separated Morgan and Ross.
The aftermath
Elwaer was taken by ambulance to Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released, Trent said.
The department is still gathering information about the incident, Trent said.
It is standard procedure for the department to review incidents where an officer fires a gun, he said.
He said no officers have been placed on administrative leave, and that Elwaer's injury "could have been a lot worse."
He said officers have shot at police dogs in the past to protect themselves.
Ross has been a canine officer for several years, and has worked for the department since 1999, Trent said.
I'm thinking that all the human officers involved could use some retraining too.
Think about it. Officer #1, the K9 handler released his dog into a situation where another officer is doing what would predictably appear to the dog to be fleeing in the same direction that the dog is being sent to catch someone. Officer #2, the shoot-to-miss specialist, figures the smart thing to do is to shoot Officer Dog -- maybe it was smart or maybe it wasn't, we don't know enough about the circumstances to be sure (though I suspect that immediately lying face-down on the ground would have been safer and more effective) -- but we do know he missed, and we have a pretty good idea he didn't know his backstop when he took the shot (and the K9 handler may well have been in the general line of fire). With Officer Dog now predictably attacking the guy who shot at him, who he already thought was a criminal and is now sure is a criminal, Officer #1 figures the smart thing to do is to start attacking Officer #2, thus removing any trace of doubt from Officer Dog's mind that Officer #2 is a dangerous criminal who must be taken down.
Officers #3 and #4 come upon the scene of Officers #1 and #2 slugging it out and Officer Dog responding as he'd been trained to respond to someone slugging it out with his handler, and decide the smart thing to do is to pile onto the slugfest while Officer Dog is still unrestrained, figuring Officer Dog would . . . well I don't think their figuring process had even started, when they went ahead and tackled Officers #1 and #2, and once again, Officer Dog responded as he'd been trained to do to anyone attacking his handler.
I say Officer Dog deserves a nice vacation at a beach resort and lots of doggie biscuits, before coming back to do a refresher course to try to untangle the tremendous confusion that Officers #1, #2, #3, and #4 have planted in his little doggie mind.
Or maybe the Dog was smarter than the cops and figured out who the bad guys were... would not be the first time.
Me either. See my post #21. I’m not sure how police dogs are trained to handle a suspect who has given up, and followed the human officer’s pretty standard orders to lie down on the ground, face down, hands behind head, but I would think they’re trained to stop actually attacking and just stand on or right next to the suspect, poised to strike again if the suspect moves. If so, police officers should be trained to immediately assume that pose when a police dog is mistakenly attacking them, as long as it’s safe to do so given the specifics of the situation (and it sounds like it would have been in this case).
Actually the dog started biting cop 3 and 4 while they had the perp on the ground. And I think you’re right, they all need obedience school. :-)
Pefectly understandable.
Those poor officers are exposed to drugs and drug tainted money day in, and day out.
The dog was just attacking a bunch of perps in funny costumes, who reeked of drugs.
WARNING: as a civilian, if YOUR money (like 90% of American currency) has been detected as tainted by Officer Canine, the above will not apply to you.
Ever wonder if perhaps the dog DID know who the bad guys were?
Does this mean there there is a "policy or procedure" for an officer to follow when shooting a police K9?
And one wonders where Reno 911 gets its scripts.
Easily explained: The perp who wrecked the car and was being chased was wearing a police uniform, too. ;^)
I’m siding with the dog.
He probably bit all the right people.
If a copy shoots at me you can bet your sweet bippee I’m gonna bite his a$$.
If a brother cop shoots at my police dog I’m gonna bite his a$$ too.
Idiots.
I’ll take the dog.
The closest I came was I was helping the K9 Officer with some training one night. In the morning when we got off work, I put on the same jacket I had been wearing during the training.
I went walking past the squad-room and said good night to everyone.
As I put my hand on the door-nob to open it, there was a GS dog on my back. He gave a little growl. And I cried for the K9 Officer.
I never wore that coat to work again. <;8*)
ED
Where's Leslie Nielson when you need him?
I hope it was his own dog. If not, the owner must have been pretty testy if the mailman spayed his prize bitch.
USPS training must be better than I thought.
:-D
Just wow. Looks like somebody needs to go back to Dog Training, 101. Then, somebody needs to quit trying to beat the tar out of his fellow police officer and watch his dog better.
The dog just does what it’s been trained to do (or not).
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