DOJ: Louisville Police Officer Allowed Police Dog to Attack 14-Year-Old Boy

After a two-year investigation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that the Louisville Police Department violated the civil rights of Black people by using excessive force. Part of that included a cop using a police dog to attack a 14-year-old boy, resulting in the boy being hospitalized, according to Insider.

On March 8, the DOJ released an 86-page report, which included the incident of an officer allowing his canine to attack and gnaw on the boy’s arm.

“The officer was leading his dog to search for a person suspected of a home invasion. After searching for several minutes, the officer saw the teenager lying on the ground, face down in the grass,” the Justice Department wrote in its report. “Immediately after noticing the teen, the officer deployed his dog off-leash—without giving any warning—and ordered the dog to bite the teen at least seven times.”

The report also stated that the boy pleaded for help “while the dog gnawed on his arm,” adding that “at one point, an officer shouted, ‘Stop fighting my dog!’ despite video showing the teen lying still with one arm behind his back and the other arm in the dog’s mouth.”

The boy was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for injuries to his arm and back.

The report stated that the DOJ believes the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government used “excessive force, including unjustified neck restraints and the unreasonable use of police dogs and tasers. Unlawfully executes search warrants without knocking and announcing [and] unlawfully stops, searches, detains, and arrests people during street enforcement activities, including traffic and pedestrian stops.”

That wasn’t the report’s most damning statement.

“The Department of Justice has reasonable cause to believe that the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government (Louisville Metro) and the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law,” the report stated.