Oh come on, the child needed 20 stitches, what more do you need to know.


Jackie,
Re. 20 stitches, the resulting injury is not in contention, I have already said the boy is not to blame here. What i said was "we were not there" to see what took place and understand why the officer failed to see the child. ie, the reason the officer failed to control his dog.

It's all very easy to pronounce a view in such a definitive manner, but without actually witnessing the event it is just conjecture. We will never know.

Off to the woods now for a stroll in the rain, the pleasures of being a dog owner eh?

In my opinion the officer failed to exercise a duty of care. I didn't need to witness what happened to conclude he failed to control the situation. No one has contested the right of the police to enter the premises just their actions once there.

The dog is not to blame. IMO this was just the unfortunate consequences that occasionally happen when police dogs have to be deployed. They are trained to bite - to hold on and prevent escape until their handler has caught up and made the arrest or whatever. Police dogs - unlike our pet dogs - have little or no restraint where children are concerned, and although tragic, horrible and extremely frightening for the poor boy and his family, I really don't think we should blame the police or the dog. Everyone was doing their duty - we moan constantly about the police not doing their duty, and then we moan when things go awry as in this case.

It is an extremely unfortunate accident and the boy and his family should of course receive the best of care in terms of medical treatment, pyschological assessment and treatment etc. etc. Doubtless the poor lad will be suffering trauma and will need psychiatric help of some sort. But IMO it is totally unfair and unreasonable to blame the police and the dog in any way.

Are you sure you'd feel the same if it was your child in your garden?

In this day and age, a 10 year old boy is pretty street wise and usually has a gob on him, and I cannot understand why he didn't use both!

I've watched many a police programme, seen the dog handlers throw the dog over walls/fences, and I think it is OUR job to keep out of the way and let them both do their job. This boy knew they were police officers, he was supposedly "in the shed fixing his scooter" and in my estimation, he would have been safe if he'd stayed in said shed and called out to the police. That didn't happen, WHY did he come right over that close to the policeman looking underneath the car? Surely a 10 yr old knows what a policeman and a police dog looks like don't they and have been taught to keep AWAY from them?

I have a 10 yr old little boy next door, and along with that he's also autistic, but I'm darn sure he'd keep out of the way if he saw a a policeman dressed in uniform with a hyped up dog at the end of a metre lead.

It's not as if this boy was "surprised" in any way, because he was IN THE SHED! Not as if he was sitting on the ground playing with his mates and the dog barges in on them in HIS garden.

My opinion is, there's a big part of this story missing, and I bet the culprit of metal theift was actually in that house if not hiding underneath that car, and the kid came over to protect his dad, that's more like it

I haven't changed my mind, I'm with the policeman and his dog, I have the utmost respect for our police force, they endure tremendous sh*t thrown at them nowadays, especially on this type of estate, and they must have been pretty desperate to catch this guy, and took their eye off the ball maybe for a minute or two.

If the kid as all innocent along with the family in that house, then I'll eat my words, and could bed persuaded to change my mind, but as it stands having read the article, I'm sticking with my opinion.

Anyway, who's blaming the kid? I can't see where anyone has blamed the kid, except for saying he should have had more bdooly sense, and kept his distance, especially at 10! I'm saying the policeman and his dog were doing their job, and I'll bet my bottom dollar when the full story comes out, that kid WENT over to him to protect his dad underneath that car - probably, and that is WRONG if he did, he was hindering a policeman in the line of duty and that's against the law, 10 years old or not, if he's savvy enough to do that, then he's savvy enough to have kept well out of it.

Why didn't the kid run indoors then if he was that scared??? He had every opportunity cos the dog was ONlead!

Helena

I'm having trouble believing you said that - if what you mean by it is you will eat your words (change your mind) if it turns out the police 'got the wrong house' or if the boy's parents or even he himself are found to be innocent of any crimes?

Ironic really that they are currently pushing thro' a law to make dog owners liable if their dog bites a child who 'trespasses' on their premises. Yet here it seems to be OK for a dog to go into premises where a child lives and bite them?

I know about circumstances and detail being important and making a difference. But to try to say that this kid 'should have known better' is disgraceful IMHO. You have no idea how 'savvy' he is or why he did what he did. People behave strangely in circumstances that scare them sometimes.

He might have been trying to hide or to see what it was the policeman was looking under the car for - who knows.

There is going to be an enquiry - I will be more interested to hear what comes out at that than what is printed in the Daily Fail.

If anyone is at fault it has to be the handler, dog was doing his job and child was in his own garden minding his own business. 3 foot lead is quite long on a dog that size. Entering a property police should announce their presence and give people a chance to surrender if they are doing wrong, the boy should have at least deserved the chance to say he was there...


My uncle was a police dog handler his dog his responsibility and yes when working they will bite anyone in front of them at home his dogs were pussy cats but at work tigers.

I don't disagree with you. Unfortunate incident all round but whenever there is a sensationalist reporting of 'dog bites man' or 'dog kills man' even many here are ADAMANT that the dog is not to blame and should not be 'punished' that it is the OWNER who is at fault.

Some of the same people now seem to be saying that the dog is not to blame and the handler/owner of the dog is not to blame either and it is somehow the fault of a 10 yr old child on his own property because he did not react in the way THEY WOULD HAVE? Jesus!

Worse than that, reading some of the posts it would appear that some think the reasonable penalty and punishment for people suspected of stealing copper (or even being guilty of stealing copper) is to have your child attacked by a large dog in their own back garden?

You know I could even go someway towards understanding some people's attitude here if it were the householder or one of the adults in the house that the dog bit - perhaps who was 'hiding from the police' but a TEN YEAR OLD KID?

And it might well turn out that there was no way the officer could have seen the child due to the juxtaposition of the gate, the car, the dog on a lead - waddever and he might not be held liable. But it still isn't the KID'S FAULT!

If I had a 10 year old kid playing in the garden, I'm darn sure he would have run indoors to the safety of our house and me, than hang around out there, going within ONE METRE of a policeman dressed in uniform with a wild dog on the end of a lead? I cannot fathom it out, and I have come up with the theory that the kid went over to that car to protect his dad who might have been hiding underneath it, afterall, the dog thought he was didn't he and dogs aren't stupid!

If I've got it wrong, and the policeman barged into the garden, and the dog just attacked the child, then I will eat my words, but considering the dog was ON A LEAD, that child had every opportunity of legging it to somewhere safe!

As I said, the little boy next door at 10 years old, autistic toboot, he KNOWS darn well never to come up to Zena whether she's ONlead when I'm walking up the drive from a walk, or OFFlead on our front terrace barking at him through the gate. He KNOWS this, he knows it from instinct and he knows it from being taught by his responsible parents.

I can't wait for this full story to come out now, because there was NO reason in this world for that 10 year old boy to APPROACH that policeman and his dog a mere metre from his handler, no reason whatsoever! Gardens are big places, he had a shed, he had a house, and he should have gone to one of those, NOT interfere.

I'm still sticking with my opinion!

How do you know what a 10 yr old kid would do if you 'had him'. You don't so you cannot possibly say.

I cannot believe you are BLAMING THIS KID!

You seem to be saying all children should be **** scared of the police? I think the police are working hard to make sure they are not.

And who is to say HOW anyone of whatever age will react to someone storming their garden when they are in there minding their own business?