A Penticton Mountie who earlier this year was involved in an arrest where a police service dog chased down and then bit a suspected car thief won’t face criminal charges.
B.C.’s police watchdog investigated the case and found that the actions of the arresting officer on May 16 weren’t outside the scope of his duties, nor was there excessive force used.
The Independent Investigations Office did, however, note that the suspect who was injured had little opportunity to surrender before a dog went in, and there was no due warning from the Mountie who let the dog loose.
According to the Independent Investigations Office’s report, released Wednesday, the suspect was a prolific offender known for ramming police vehicles with stolen vehicles as he attempted to flee from capture.
He and three others were spotted by a Mountie in an unmarked vehicle and covertly followed. That’s when he was spotted driving slowly, and potentially casing the property of potential victims. The suspect was seen stealing gas around 3 a.m. May 16, chief civilian director Ronald J. MacDonald said in the report.
According to the IIO investigation, about an hour later, the truck pulled over near the Penticton Airport and the suspect and another man left the vehicle. Mounties in three vehicles moved in for an arrest, determining they were far enough away from the truck that they wouldn’t have time to get back in the vehicle and ram them.
They did, however, run.
One officer used his police vehicle to block passage south “and immediately went after the first male on foot,” the report reads.
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The officer who was the subject of the excessive force investigation pulled in between two parked police cruisers and brought out his police dog.
A third officer said he heard the officer with the dog and the other officer “yelling commands” at the suspect and telling him he was under arrest.
Then the suspect turned to run further.
“This guy was turning to run and I saw that the line went slack on the police dog,” read testimony from that third officer.
“So the guy kind of turned as that happened and realized there was a dog coming at him now…. I remember he jumped down and … he threw his arm out in front of him and … his left arm was bit.”
Shortly after that, the second man was arrested and the two women who had remained in the vehicle were also taken into custody.
The man who was bitten never testified, though he was taken to hospital with serious lacerations to his face and arms, the IIO said.
Long bolt cutters were confiscated at the scene and the IIO indicated that may have contributed to the police concern that the men had a weapon.
In the end, MacDonald found the incident occurred in a very dark place, making it difficult for the officers to see the suspects and there were concerns about the possible presence of weapons.
“On balance this is not a case where the actions of the subject officer were clearly unnecessary or unreasonable and it cannot be said that the use of a police service dog was a use of excessive force,” he found.
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