A Cincinnati teenager says he was sound asleep when a police K-9 tore into his arm during a warrant execution at his mother’s home earlier this year, leaving him bruised, stitched up and briefly hospitalized. The encounter, pieced together from body-camera footage and public records reviewed by reporters, has stirred fresh debate in the Queen City over when canine teams should be sent into homes and whether existing safeguards actually protect juveniles.
What the video shows
Body-worn camera footage obtained by reporters captures officers calling into the home, warning the people inside and one officer saying, “Tell him we’re going to send a dog in if he doesn’t come out,” before a K-9 is released into a bedroom and latches onto the teen’s arm, according to WCPO. The teen, 16 at the time and now 17, told reporters he was asleep and never heard the commands. He needed stitches and later additional treatment when the wound became infected. His mother says she counted roughly 11 police cruisers outside and has said she plans to file a citizen complaint.
What policy allows
The Cincinnati Police Department’s procedures require a supervisor to sign off before a canine is deployed, and the rules say K-9s “will not be used to search a residence except in extraordinary circumstances,” according to the department’s manual. The written policy also limits off-leash searches to commercial buildings or situations where a suspect is wanted for a violent offense or is reasonably believed to be armed, the Cincinnati police manual states. Those provisions sit at the heart of local questions about why a dog ended up in a bedroom during this arrest attempt…