Hamburg police officer to stand trial over dog bite
A Hamburg police officer must answer for a serious dog bite. Her service dog mauled a man on a rear seat in January 2023.
Hamburg police officer to stand trial over dog bite
A trial against a 31-year-old police officer began on Tuesday at the regional court in the Hanseatic city. The charge: dangerous assault whilst in office.
In January 2023, a police dog attacked a 33-year-old man. The animal mauled the victim's upper body and legs. The attack resulted in deep wounds, some of them close to the genital area. Doctors at the hospital had to graft skin onto the injured areas.
Officers had been pursuing a car that had allegedly caused an accident and fled the scene beforehand. When the vehicle stopped, the man was sitting drunk in the back seat. According to investigators, he posed no physical threat at that point in time. Nonetheless, the police officer is alleged to have removed the muzzle from the animal and incited it to attack.
The public prosecutor's office in the Hanseatic city believes that the deployment of the dog was not justified in this situation. The prosecution assumes that the dog handler must have been aware that no circumstances existed that would have warranted the bite.
The legal representative of the injured party, Alexandra Elek, called the deployment completely escalatory. She rejected the allegations against her client regarding the accident and the subsequent flight.
Cases in which complaints about alleged police violence actually reach court are rare. According to nationwide figures, only two out of every hundred reported incidents are tried or result in a fine. In the Hanseatic city, residents report between 400 and more than 500 officers annually for assault whilst on duty. The number of charges remains in the single digits.
Source: NDR
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)