A police K-9 unit in Port Hueneme, California. Photo: Clotee Allochuku/Flickr
A man was shot and killed by a police officer after he killed a police dog in what seems like a tragic “do or die” scenario. The man was under his house when police sent the dog under to attack him. But the man could not get out and would likely have been killed if he did not fight back. Tragically, a dog who was trained to attack on the orders of police officers was killed. Then, a human being who never fired a shot at police officers was shot and killed.
The incident occurred during a stand off that lasted for hours in the City of Hemet, California. The man’s name has not yet been released, but police are otherwise speaking fairly openly about some of the details of the case. Naturally, many feel strongly connected to police K9s, and to dogs in general, but the case raises an interesting question: does a suspect have the right to defend themselves from a police dog attack when they have no other way to surrender?
The standoff began sometime around 2:30 in the afternoon. Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Albert Martinez explained that a police dog named “Sultan” had been sent to search a crawl space, and after trying to attack the man hiding in it, he was shot in the neck.
“Sultan” was handled by a San Jacinto police officer who was helping several other agencies search the area.
Sultan was a 2-year-old mixed Belgian malinois and German shepherd. After being taken to a local veterinarian for treatment, Sultan died on the operating table.
The suspect managed to get out of the crawl space and barricaded himself inside the home after the dog retreated, but was this a legitimate use of a police dog in attack mode? Clearly the man could not have surrendered once the dog cornered him under there. Regardless of whether he was guilty or innocent, we will never know now. What we do know is that he had not been proven guilty, and he would have likely been mauled to death under the house.
Once he got out from under the crawl space, police sent for SWAT reinforcements and tossed in tear gas canisters to get him to leave the building… But couldn’t they have done that from the beginning when he was under the house? Why send a dog to maul him, leaving him no way to come out?
After the man emerged, he was shot and killed. Police said they saw the firearm which he used to shoot the dog earlier.
Watch the video below…
We all love dogs and no one wants to see them die. Some of us don’t believe it is ethical for police to use them to attack suspects at all.
But if you’re cornered under a house crawl space and police send a K9 dog to attack you, are you in the wrong to shoot the dog which otherwise would have mauled you to death under there?
Should you just lay there and get ripped to pieces, with no way to crawl out? No conviction, no sentence, just cruel and unusual punishment right from the initial police contact.