K-9 bites nude man in groin assisting castration effort during arrest...

[Robby (imported)]

Posted on Thu, Dec. 09, 2004

K-9 bites nude man in groin during arrest (http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/10371950.htm)

http://www.twincities.com/images/common/spacer.gif

BRIEFING: MINNEAPOLIS

Police had to use Tasers and a police dog to subdue and arrest a man spotted running nude and trying to enter homes in South Minneapolis on Tuesday.

It was about noon when the man was spotted in the 5400 block of Park Avenue South. When an officer with a dog arrived, the man was found in a house in that block, police said. The man then attacked the officer, striking him, prompting the officer's dog to bite the nude man in the genital area.

Even after the bite and being struck several times with the Taser jolts, the man continued to fight police, officers said. Several officers eventually subdued and arrested the man, who was taken to a hospital for treatment. The dog was removed from duty while the incident is being reviewed, police said.

Officer Ron Reier, a police spokesman, said the department's dogs are trained to bite if their partner is attacked. However, dogs are not trained to bite in the groin. Reier said the dog likely just jumped and bit the man, who was moving around at the time.

Police did not release the man's name Wednesday.

— Phillip Piña

[Robby (imported)]

Last update: December 9, 2004 at 12:50 AM

Police dog and Taser nab nude man (http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5127288.html)

Howie Padilla, Star Tribune December 9, 2004 CHASE1209

A Minneapolis man wandered naked through residential streets on the city's south side and fought with police before being bitten by a police dog and subdued with the use of a Taser gun, officials said Wednesday. The man was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center shortly after noon Tuesday, having been bitten by the dog in the groin area, Lt. Medaria Arradondo said. He was reported in serious condition Wednesday night.

Speaking from her home in Milwaukee, the 19-year-old man's grandmother said she was worried about him because she hadn't heard from him since about 9 a.m. Tuesday. She said he had called asking where his father was, adding that the man's father -- her son -- had died two years ago.

Police were called to the area surrounding the 5500 block of Columbus Avenue S. in the Page and Diamond Lake neighborhoods Tuesday morning on a report that a man was running through the streets naked.

On Wednesday, a neighbor, who asked to not be identified, said that when she encountered the man, he was clothed and ringing the doorbell.

"Where's Adam?" the man asked. "Where's Allah?"

She had no answers. But when he asked, "Where's Jesus?" the resident said softly, "He should be in your heart. Now you have to leave."

Recounting the exchange Wednesday, she said that she didn't feel threatened and that the man seemed normal and left without incident.

Moments later and several houses away, residents said, he stripped down, leaving his jeans and a long-sleeved shirt in a pile.

From there, the now-naked man made his way up the block.

Along the way, he pounded on doors, sometimes swearing, and rang doorbells trying to get inside the houses.

"I came to the door and there he sat," Judy Gunnarson said. "He had not a stitch on."

With her husband upstairs, she locked the door, and the man went away.

Another neighbor, Libby Pomroy, said she heard her sheltie, Cassie, barking in the back yard. "I looked out the kitchen window and there was this naked man chasing her around the yard," Pomroy said.

As she called 911, the barking stopped. Pomroy feared something had happened to Cassie, but she found the dog sitting on the back steps unharmed and the man gone.

Police responding to 911 calls encountered the man at Craig Martinson's home on Park Avenue. No one was home, but the door had been left open for his mother, who was expected to come from out of town.

Martinson said Wednesday that although several items appeared to have been moved from the dining room table to an upstairs bedroom, nothing appeared to have been damaged or taken from his home. It appeared, he said, that the man had rummaged through his dirty laundry in the basement.

When police arrived, the man was in the kitchen area, Arradondo said. They called to him, ordering him to come outside.

There, police said, he was met by a Minneapolis canine officer who ordered the man to get on the ground.

"According to police reports, the man lunged at the officer and punched him in the head," Arradondo said.

The dog then jumped to the defense of his handler, police spokesman Ron Reier said.

"Our dogs aren't trained to attack the groin area," he said. "The dog did what he is trained to do. It jumped and bit to protect his handler."

According to police reports, the man continued to fight, and officers from the department's Crisis Intervention Team subdued him using a Taser gun, Arradondo said. After they handcuffed him, he again began struggling with officers and was shocked with the Taser again before being taken to the hospital.

Although police declined to discuss specific injuries to the man, a source with knowledge of the case said the dog bit the man in the genitals.

The dog has been taken off duty pending an investigation. His partner, who suffered lacerations to his head and arm, will continue to respond to calls, Arradondo said.

The 19-year-old's grandmother, Eliza Roberson, said that he had been very close to his father and that his father's death had weighed heavily on her grandson, who moved to Minneapolis in August.

"He would come to my husband and tell him that he was crying loud enough hoping his father would hear him," Roberson said of her grandson.

Once the man, who has not been charged, is released from the hospital, he is expected to be held on suspicion of assaulting an officer and burglary for entering Martinson's home, Arradondo said.

Staff writer Matt McKinney contributed to this report. Howie Padilla is at hpadilla@startribune.com.

[Robby (imported)]

Nude Man Attacked By K-9 Cop (http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_343171841.html)

Dec 8, 2004 4:17 pm US/Central

Minneapolis (WCCO) A man is recovering at HCMC from an excruciating attack by a K-9 cop.

A police officer and Zak, a German shepherd, were tracking down a 19-year-old naked man who was suspected of breaking into a South Minneapolis home.

When the suspect came outside, police say the suspect attacked the officer and his dog.

Ron Reier, the Minneapolis Police spokesman said, “He actually struck the officer in the head with his fists and lunged at the officer and the dog."

That's when Zak bit the suspect in the groin area during the struggle in the backyard.

A K-9 supervisor says the report indicates, the suspect kept moving his arms around during the ordeal.

Sgt. Danny May, a K-9 supervisor said that dogs aren't trained to bite in the groin area, but they are also not trained to avoid it.

K-9 officers say all police dogs are trained to react

if their partner is attacked.

May said, "That was something the dog does on instinct, the officer didn't give a command."

The man suffered a severed testicle and a lacerated penis. He is still unidentified because he had no identification with him at the time of the attack.

(WCCO)

[Dave (imported)]

the important question is

"was it a big snack or a little snack?"

ho, ho, ho, Meeeerry X-missing

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

I think we should all keep in mind that the Minneapolis police have a long record of being sued for inappropriate use of force. They have lost most of these suits to the tune of many millions of dollars. They are operating under a consent order establishing strict protocals for the handling of persons suspected of mental illness after the deaths of two such suspects in less than a year. This suspect has my sympathy. --FLO--

[A-1 (imported)]

Hmmm,

I don't know about the man, but it looks like the dog had a ball.

A-1

[Robby (imported)]

Nude man bitten in groin by police dog was off meds, relative believes

(http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/512

9677.html)

Last update: December 10, 2004 at 7:02 AM

Howie Padilla and David Chanen, Star Tribune December 10, 2004

When the Rev. Joe Roberson heard that his grandson was accused of running through Minneapolis streets naked and scuffling with police, he had a good guess at what happened.

"I believe he just quit taking his medications," Roberson said about his grandson, Michael Porter, 19, who was seriously injured Tuesday when a police dog bit him in the groin.

Porter, who remained in serious condition Thursday night at Hennepin County Medical Center, was eventually subdued with a Taser gun.

Roberson said Porter had been taking medication to help him cope with his father's unexpected death about two years ago.

Police said they're looking into whether the dog and Taser were properly used; the investigation is standard procedure in such cases.

Porter was charged Thursday with four counts of felony assault and gross misdemeanor assault. He is accused of wandering through south Minneapolis streets

in the Page and Diamond Lake neighborhoods,

sometimes wearing only a robe, at other times wearing nothing.

According to the criminal complaint filed in District Court, Porter went through yards and tried to enter homes, at one point removing his robe. Officers tried to ask Porter whether he needed help, then lost sight of him.

More officers, including K-9 officer Bruce Ketzner and his dog, Zack, arrived to set up a perimeter to find him. Ketzner saw Porter naked in the kitchen of a Park Avenue house and ordered him to walk toward him. Porter went to a porch and as Ketzner backed up with his dog to handcuff him, Porter lunged at the officer and hit him in the head, the complaint said.

Zack then bit Porter in the groin area. Porter threw a small fan at Ketzner and other officers who arrived at the scene. Zack released his bite, but Porter continued to hit the officers.

It appears Ketzner was alone with Porter before he hit the officer, but officer Mark Vandaalen, a member of

the department's Crisis Intervention Team,

was at the scene within minutes, authorities said. Another CIT trained officer also responded from the department's First Precinct in downtown.

Vandaalen shot Porter with a Taser, but Porter could still hit the officer and tried again to throw the fan at Ketzner. Deputy Chief Tim Dolan said Ketzner never let his dog off the lead. "The officer recognized this wasn't a normal burglary," he said.

The department doesn't train their dogs to bite a suspect in the groin area, but on a shirt sleeve, upper thigh or the closest extremity, he said.

The department's canine squad officers are hearing from officers across the country because the case is so unusual, Dolan said.

"Can you train a dog to not attack a naked person?" he asked. "When an officer is attacked, the dog is going to respond. We're not going to change that."

Four officers suffered cuts and bruises, and a fifth suffered injuries that will keep him off duty until Monday.

As Roberson and his wife prepared to drive the 337 miles from Milwaukee to Minneapolis, Roberson remembered talks with Porter, who was trying to take care of things that his father did not have time to do. Porter was hoping his 5-foot-10, 170-pound frame could beat the odds and carry him to the NBA.

That, Porter would say, would bring the money to build his grandparents the home on a ranch his father could never afford.

But Roberson also remembered more ominous times. He remembered times when Porter, a surprisingly strong athlete, would not take his medication.

"He would get hyper and jumpy," he said. "He would get confused asking, 'Where am I at?' He would want to fight everyone."

Roberson is convinced that his

grandson, who moved to Minneapolis in August,

would not have been on drugs. Eliza Roberson, Porter's grandmother, said Thursday that a nurse told her that there were no signs of drugs in his system.

Mark Anderson, director of the Friends of Barbara Schneider, a mental illness advocacy group, said Thursday that he hoped an investigation will be done into whether the department's CIT officers were used effectively.

Sgt. John Delmonico, president of the police federation, said Ketzner did everything by the book. Ketzner has been with the department for 17 years and has partnered with Zack for four years. No complaints have been filed against the dog, who has apprehended 17 felons during his career, Delmonico said.

About 100 officers have volunteered to receive 40 hours of training to become CIT members. They responded to about 1,300 calls through the beginning of October. Only these officers carry Taser guns and are allowed to take charge of a scene.

Inspector Don Harris, who is in charge of the department's bureau of professional standards, said they will review the case to see if the officers violated any policies on the use of the canine and Taser and what actions led to the encounter. They will also look at training issues.

Dolan said CIT members have done an extraordinary job, but people don't hear about all the success stories. Despite Porter's injuries, his case could be viewed as a success, Dolan said.

"This is a situation that could have ended up with the use of deadly force," Dolan said.

The writers are at hpadilla@startribune.com and dchanen@startribune.com.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Well, I think cooler heads must think this through, this young man needs to be in a hospital, not in a jail.

I would bet when he wakes up he wont remember anything.

Before they got my drugs right, I had times of gref, rage, you name it. One morning I woke with my hands hurting when I opened my eyes I realized I was not at home. I went to the nurces station and asked, what happened? they said I was having a fight with a wall.

As I said, this young man needs to be in a hospital, not a jail.

Riverwind

[vesal_mas (imported)]

http://ejm.yyu.edu.tr/98-2/77.pdf

This eis an article discribing a K9 that has bitten of the scrotum and testicls of a 13 year old. He's now 35.

Greetings.