police dog exits vehicle without his handler and attacks deputy, killed by deputy

[Demovictory9]

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/confusing-chaotic-scene-leads-to-shooting-death-of-k-9-officer-by-deputy/85-8023648e-67f9-4e05-92f3-0f9e31db6047



As more deputies responded to the scene, the male suspect “continued to jump over fences and run through yards in an attempt to get away,” Paulding County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ashley Henson said.

A short time later, Cpl. Brandon Kilgore arrived on scene with 8-year-old K-9 Verro and observed the male suspect running in the area of Brooks Road and Trotters Way. Kilgore "quickly stopped his patrol vehicle and gave chase" on foot without Verro.

“Handlers are trained on specific rules regarding the deployment of their K-9 partners,” Henson said. “At the time Corporal Kilgore arrived, the departmental criteria to deploy the dog had not been met, so he did not release K-9 Verro.”

A series of "tragic" events followed.

K-9 Verro was able to squeeze through the partially open kennel door that separates his vehicle kennel from the drivers compartment which allowed him to crawl into the front of the SUV.

As the "chaotic" scene unfolded, no deputies were aware K-9 Verro was out of his vehicle, according to a report.

“Had Corporal Kilgore known K-9 Verro was loose, he would have advised the other Deputies to stop the foot pursuit and taken command of K-9 Verro,” Henson said.

Shortly after K-9 Verro exited his vehicle, he observed a deputy sprinting away from him. In the absence of his handler’s direction, the report said that K-9 Verro could not differentiate between the deputy and suspect. K-9 Verro apprehended the deputy by grabbing the back of his leg and followed his training by biting and holding until he was commanded to release, the report said.

The Deputy, who had been bitten from behind while running, “had no idea the dog was actually a law enforcement canine,” Henson said. Unable to remove the dog from his leg, the deputy followed his training, drew his service weapon and shot and killed K-9 Verro.

[rampartc]

1. i tend to trust verro's judgement over the bitten deputy.

[marble falls]

2. My sympathies are with the dog in a "chaotic" chase scene.

[mokawanis]

7. and which human was at risk of losing their life?

Are dog bites to the leg fatal?

[Codeine]

8. Who wants to let the dog chew on their leg

long enough to find out? I’m an animal lover and a 30yr vegan and if you put me in the situation I’m shooting the dog too.

[marble falls]

9. Who neglected to secure his dog???

[Codeine]

10. Another deputy.

What’s that got to do with it? In the absence of his handler the dog wasn’t going to release. Are you honestly suggesting the officer simply allow the dog to keep on tearing him up?

I saw the aftermath of a police dog takedown after somebody burglarized my store and tried to hide in a storage area when he couldn’t get out. The damage is outright shocking.

[mokawanis]

11. Not disagreeing with you, however

I was responding to another poster who stated the dog's life was not as important as a human life.

[milestogo]

12. It says the dog was biting and holding, not chewing his leg off.

[Codeine]

14. The "bite and hold" technique

usually involves vigorous and repeated shaking of the dog’s head back and forth. This can cause serious injury and excruciating pain.

[Hortensis]

3. Sad. I hope the deputy really needed to kill the dog in that situation.

I've been "bit" and held twice by dogs, though my clothing protected me from puncture both times. One released me after I stood quiet for a while and allowed me to walk quietly out of the corner of the yard I'd been jogging across, but I had to wait for the owner to call off the other.

I fell in love with that shepherd. She and her family were camped near us along a river, and she spent all day following and watching over her 3 small boys. They were all over the place, playing with our children, and kept her very busy. When she wanted in our camper to check on one of them, she didn't ask, just pushed right past me, stood to check what was happening on the over-cab bed, and left to check on another.

I suspect Verro would have frightened me a lot more than they did. Police dogs are trained to be dangerously intimidating.

[Johnny2X2X]

4. Police dogs are terrifying and so powerful it's hard to grasp unless you've seen it

I've seen police dogs being trained up close, it's really hard to describe to people just how formidable they are. Your own dog (even if you have a German Shepard) just isn't trained up to their full potential. People cannot imagine the feats of strength, athleticism, and agility dogs are capable of.

I remember watching a police dog train in a salvage yard, they had a scented bag they hid for the dog to track. The 100 lb dog approaches a 6 foot chain link fence and with zero hesitation, leaps to the top of the fence and perches on top of it all 4 paws balancing for an instant as it looks around for a second and then leaps down, it was as effortless as a person stepping up a curb. It was in that moment that I knew these dogs weren't like normal pets. My sister's German Shepard who I was friends would would never have been able to pull that jump off so easily and gracefully.

A dog has no weaknesses when attacking a person. A fully trained police dog will render most any full grown man helpless in an instant. Terrible situation.

[Hortensis]

5. Thanks. Very impressive and scary.

Those normal pets -- when I was working as an appraiser in sometimes quite bad neighborhoods, the only times I seriously thought I might die were because of dogs. I've always been sure that the only thing that saved me from one large, extremely aggressively angry one was that he had apparently never before leaped over the paltry 5' wood fence that bounded his world.

[onethatcares]

13. will the k-9 cop

now sue the city for emotional distress due to Verro being shot and killed?