. A dog is not a human being, and lacks the discretion..
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This is where your logic falls apart. If the dog is not operating under authority of the dog handler and the dog handler doesn’t have control, then the officer shouldn’t have the dog in the first place. If they are claiming the dog did this by accident, the cops are negligent. If they are claiming the dog did it on purpose, they are guilty of excessive force. They are guilty one way or another.
Any cop that can’t tackle a 15 year old and subdue him without the assistance of a dog ripping off parts of his anatomy has no business being a cop in the first place. Any cop that has a dog like that, that he can’t control, has no business having the dog in the first place.
Who's supposed to hold/control the dog while the perp is fighting the dog handler? I have a splendidly trained retriever, and it takes every ounce of my concentration to hold her in "sit" while the birds are falling all around. If a fleeing-and-eluding felon were wrassling with me, I would not have my full concentration on my dog.
And why would the handler command to dog to "sit" or "leave it" while a perp is struggling with him? He doesn't know that the perp is 'only 15', doesn't know if he has outstanding warrants (after all, he fled, and 9 times out of 10 the guys who run from the cops are wanted), for all he knows the guy is running from a murder warrant. It only takes a few seconds for the perp to get hold of his sidearm and shoot him AND the dog stone cold dead.
Bottom line is that this kid was dumber than dirt to resist arrest and fight the officer with a K-9 on the scene. As I noted, MOST criminals just surrender quietly when they see the dog.
And I notice you ignored the other two points.
There are a LOT of 15 year olds in this country that can scare the hell out of any sensible cop. It doesn’t say how big this kid is, but the fact that he resisted arrest to the point of fighting the officer when the k9 was present is a pretty clear indication that he was a tough customer.
The bottom line is that if you don’t turn yourself in and you resist arrest and there is a k9 there, you are going to get bit. Stupid kid got what he deserved, and the happy story here is that the cop, the k9 and all of the innocent civilians that were threatened by this kid are OK.