CCTV shows officer seriously injured after being mauled by police dog | UK News

A police officer requires surgery after being mauled by a runaway police dog.

The officer tried to apprehend a suspected car thief in the early hours of Tuesday in the Shelfield area of ​​Walsall, West Midlands, after a 10-mile chase.

But when he returned to the car to look for other passengers, he was attacked by a police dog, which had been released by its handler.

CCTV footage shows the officer being dragged to the ground by the dog before his handler and other officers rushed to help.

An ambulance team was dispatched to the scene and treated the officer’s injuries, which paramedics described as “serious,” before he was taken to hospital.

West Midlands Police have launched an investigation.

A spokesman for the force said: “One of our traffic officers was bitten by a police dog from our West Midlands Police Dog Unit after chasing after a stolen car which started in the Cannock area of ​​Staffordshire and ended at Leighs Road, Shelfield.

“A stinger was deployed and the vehicle stopped.

“The officer got out of the vehicle to pursue a man who ran out of the car and was bitten.

“No arrests were made.

“The officer was quickly rushed to hospital where he was treated for cuts and bites sustained in the attack. He underwent surgery and is still in the hospital.

“Our Professional Standards Department has been notified of the incident and, as with all dog bites, an internal investigation will be held.”

A neighbor described hearing “screams” and sirens when he was awakened by the incident around 1:20 a.m.

John Davies, a father of someone living on the streets, said: “We were lying in bed listening to the sirens wailing in the street.

“We got up to see what was going on and we could see someone with a police dog on the ground.

“They kept yelling, ‘Get that dog off’ over and over, and we just assumed it was the criminal that the dog grabbed.

“About a minute later, the handler came and picked up the dog, but it wasn’t until we looked back at the CCTV that we realized it wasn’t the criminal, it was a police officer.

“We could see the dog but not where it grabbed the officer but we believe it was by his leg.

“He must have been in pain, he was screaming.

“I think the dog must have just been released a little too soon and the policeman stopped the dog from getting the criminal.

“You can see the guy escape and run up the alley, then the police officer returned to the vehicle and was attacked by the police dog.

“Fortunately it wasn’t a passing pedestrian.”

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