That is assinine. The "officer" (dog) should then be charged with excessive force for biting the man's head. A dog is a dog is a dog. Calling a dog an officer, but not holding the dog responsible for its own behavior is a double standard.
Police dogs are still officers
Judge gives Barberton man maximum of year for punching K-9 member
Beacon Journal staff writer
Robert Dulabhan voiced his remorse in court Wednesday, seeking a break for punching a police officer last spring.
But the judge didn't bite.
The same could not be said of the officer, who, while responding to a call in May, chomped at Dulabhan's head before the Barberton man retaliated with the punch that landed him in court.
Despite the bite wound, Summit County Common Pleas Judge Mary Spicer said Dulabhan's reaction was unacceptable.
``An officer is an officer -- whether he has two legs or four,'' Spicer told Dulabhan before sentencing him to a year in prison for assaulting Charon, a K-9 police dog. ``They're entitled to the same respect as other officers.''
Dulabhan, 57, could not have picked a worse judge from whom to seek leniency for his assault on Charon, a Springfield Township K-9. Spicer is a card-carrying member of the Humane Society of the United States and frequent contributor to animal-related causes. She imposed the maximum sentence.
Neither Charon, an 8-year-old German shepherd, nor his partner of six years, Springfield Patrolman Robert Scherer, appeared in court.
Reached afterward, Scherer said he was pleased with Spicer's sentence and that prosecutors insisted on pursuing the charge of assault on a police dog.
``I think it's awesome. It's the first time that assault charges actually went forward for someone hitting him. Finally, Charon's being recognized as a police officer,'' Scherer said.
The confrontation with Dulabhan occurred after Lakemore police responded to a call from Dulabhan's daughter, who said she was afraid because her father was drunk, angry and claiming to have a gun.
Dulabhan had earlier been found by police sleeping or passed out in his car. He was driven to his daughter's house to sleep it off and grew angry, demanding his car keys.
Prosecutors say Dulabhan threatened officers, and they called for backup from Springfield police.
Police say that Dulabhan, an Army Vietnam War veteran, shouted: ``I'll take a shotgun and kill you just like I did in 'Nam.''
When Dulabhan advanced toward police and refused to show his hands, Scherer sent in Charon.
Prosecutors say Charon bit Dulabhan on the head, and Dulabhan responded by slugging the dog in the nose.
Charon charged again and bit Dulabhan while Scherer tried to handcuff the man. When Dulabhan still resisted, Charon again bit him and Scherer used pepper spray on him. Scherer was then able to handcuff Dulabhan, who was treated at Akron General Medical Center for his injuries.
Dulabhan pleaded guilty to assaulting a police dog, a fifth-degree felony, and aggravated menacing, a misdemeanor. He told court officials he remembered little of the event, except being bitten by Charon.
Prior to sentencing, Spicer recounted Dulabhan's long history of criminal conduct dating to 1963. She noted that alcohol and violence have always coincided with his legal woes.
While Dulabhan apologized, saying his attack on Charon ``should never have happened,'' his lawyer, Mark Weisman, asked that Dulabhan receive treatment for his alcoholism, which the lawyer said was the ``driving force'' behind his client's problems.
Weisman and Dulabhan's family declined to comment after the sentencing.
The man's attorney is a fool for allowing the defendent to plead guilty to this crap.
Caste system alert: "The assault was toward a Lord," Judge Mary Spicer said. "A Lord is a Lord, whether they have two legs or whether they have four legs."
SOP for police is to shoot the dogs of peasants if they even attempt to interfere, and sometimes even when they don't. But heaven help you if you so much as touch a Lord's dog - which itself is a Lord.
If you watch "Cops", you see them assault suspects with dogs all of the time. I remember seeing several where they send in the dog, the guy gives up, and two cops have him face down on the ground, and the dog keeps biting the mans legs. Usually, the suspect is yelling "Get the dog off me, get it off..." and a cop responds "Stop resisting..." and the dog just keep biting as the cop is yelling. What the hell would you do if two guys had you face down, and a dog was biting you? Lay still?
What a bunch of cowards.
This judge is a moron. Assaulting a police dog is not the same thing as assaulting a police officer. A dog does not have the same ability to reason or restrain himself the way on police officer can. If a dog comes after me, I am going to treat him like a dog, whether he is owned by the police or not.
A police dog is not a police officer. Any statement that they are is just sentimental hogwash. They are a tool of the police, like a gun or a car. Nothing more.
PS. I am a pet owner and I love dogs. I just don't think they should have the same rights as people. As soon as people no longer have ownership rights over animals, you can toss the notion of having a pet, as you know it, out the window.