Police dog bites boy in his garden

Police dog savaged boy, 10, as he played in his grandmother's back garden despite the German Shepherd being on a lead.
Boy bitten by German Shepherd-cross called 'Shadow' as officers hunted for copper thieves.
Grandmother says officers barged into her garden without warning or any attempt to identify themselves.

She heard screaming and looked from her rear window to see her grandson being savaged by a 'great big dog'
IPPC and internal police investigations have been launched into incident in Oldbury, West Midlands.

But the dog has already been cleared to return to duty following a 'full assessment' while its handler has been offered counselling.

Police have apologised to the young boy and his family following attack but maintain they were legally allowed on the property.

A 10-year-old boy had to be rushed to hospital after he was savaged by a police dog while he played in the back garden of his grandmother's house.

Tom Cutbill was bitten three times by the German Shepherd-Belgian Malinois cross, which was on a lead, as he played in the back garden in Oldbury, West Midlands.

West Midlands Police has launched an investigation into the incident, which happened as officers were on the trail of copper thieves, and issued an unreserved apology to the child and his family.


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The mere fact that this police officer AND his dog were allowed back on duty tells me something - doesn't it you??

QUOTE "
As he did so the dog was on a one metre lead in his left hand.

'The dog has then unfortunately bitten a 10-year-old boy who was behind the gate to the handler's left." UNQUOTE

Now if I was a 10 yr old boy, allegedly "fixing my scooter in the shed" and I saw police coming into the garden with a big, scarey gsd/mal x I think I might have shut the door of said shed, and at least hollared out to them that I was there Even if he came near (which he obviously did) shouldn't he have at least said something to the policeman looking underneath the car to let him know he was there It doesn't add up.... to me anyway. One metre of lead, that's only 3ft, the boy obviously came up very close, to see what the policeman was doing without uttering a word, so what chance did the poor bloke have of keeping his dog away?

That's my take anyway. Very sad, but the dog was doing his job, something's missing in that statement and hopefully, we will find out from the police at a later date exactly what that missing bit is perhaps?

I wondered if the policeman thought he was very close to catching a thief, he said the dog was looking under a car.

It had followed that trail into a garden through an open gate.

'Inside the gate it looked towards a car, the handler crouched down to look under the car to his right. As he did so the dog was on a one metre lead in his left hand.

'The dog has then unfortunately bitten a 10-year-old boy who was behind the gate to the handler's left.

So the dog tracked the thieves to this house. I think the policeman gave him a longish lead to apprehend the thief but stumbled upon the boy instead. Just bad luck. But as you say, maybe more to it than meets the eye. Interestingly this conflicts with my other story today about the new proposals for "dangerous dogs".
Dog owners may face prosecution

I may be shot down in flames for this, but I don't care.......my sympathies are entirely for the Police and for the dog which was doing the job for which it was trained.

We never get the full truth in these things, but as H said, the fact that the dog has been assessed and returned to duty speaks volumes. There is something that is not being reported here.

These police and the dog were on the trail of a thief and it seems that a set of unfortunate circumstances led to the dog attacking the wrong person. This is such a rare occurrence, and is extremely upsetting I know for the family, but slating the police for trying to do their job is just not on.

I'm sorry, but I am coming from this at a totally different angle, I am not sure why anyone would think police dogs only bite criminals, they are trained to chase and bring down the criminal, I.e...the person in view, They are not clever enough to work out the 10 yr old boy is not the victim, but the adult he chased into the garden ( that got awy) was the real target.

I also don't believe this is a rare occurrence, police dogs bite..that's why when they are used, you will never see another police officer in front of the dog, they will always be behind dog and handler, also ask any law abiding citizen that go to football matches, about police dogs...and how once worked up, will bite anyone( no discrimination) that walks past .

Police dogs don't discriminate, they bite what comes near.... The officer in question took his eye of the ball, the dog it was doing what it was trained to do. But neither do I blame a 10 yr old boy who was playing in his own garden , and got bitten.

The police officer was at fault in this case, and should be repremanded, of cause the dog is going to pass its evaluation , it will be done in a controlled environment. It won't be done in somes garden with a stranger coming up behind it.

I wonder if the victim had been a 3 yr old child that was bitten, or an OAP?..would the responses be the same ?.

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that. How would you all feel if it was your 10 year old minding his own business in the garden. I don't care if the police did have a legitimate reason to be there, the boy still needed 20 stitches so it wasn't just a nip. I'd want more than a blimmin apology that's for sure.

I don't know how you can blame a 10 year old boy, how would he be thinking straight around all the chaos! Accidents happen, the police dog would have been all hyped up at the time, and as we know dogs in that state don't even think straight, accidents happen please don't start blaming the poor child.

I agree, can you imagine sitting in your garden one day with your family and suddenly a dog and handler enters your domain, the onus is NOT on you to let them know you are in your own garden, its on them to alert you to why they are there and to keep their dog under control .

I am sure this was just a freak accident, not the boy's fault obviously, and the dog should have been on a shorter leash, but we weren't there to know what really happened. The thieves were tracked to this house, so the officer had due cause to believe they were hiding in the garden.

The law relating to police entering premises without a warrant.

Situations in which the police can enter premises without a warrant include when they want to:

deal with a breach of the peace or prevent it
enforce an arrest warrant
arrest a person in connection with certain offences
recapture someone who has escaped from custody
save life or prevent serious damage to property.

When they are carrying out a search police officers must:

identify themselves and - if they are not in uniform - show their warrant card, and
explain why they want to search, the rights of the occupier and whether the search is made with a search warrant or not.

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

I am not disputing the handler had reason to enter private property, he was doing his job.... my view on this is simply , the handler took his eye of the ball and that`s how the dog managed to bite an innocent young boy...no blame should be on the child, its should go where it is deserved, the police officer who was NOT in control of his dog.


The dog passing his evaluation is a pointless excuse, the evaluation will NOT have been in the same kind of environment , it would have been controlled, the incident was not controlled.