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Friday, October 8, 2010

Finally, that proverbial headline

This article appeared in the NY Post today:

Connecticut man bitten by police dog bites back

When a man in West Haven, Conn., was bitten by a police dog after attacking an officer, he bit the dog back.

Roderick Lewis, 23, allegedly approached a police officer on a West Haven street early Thursday morning and yelled out "I need a bag of dust," referring to the drug phencyclidine, also known as angel dust or PCP.

Lewis walked toward the officer, Scott Bloom, and reached into his waistband. When Bloom grabbed the man's arms to restrain him, Lewis punched the officer in the face, WVIT-TV reported Friday.

Onyx, the police dog, jumped from Bloom’s vehicle and attacked Lewis, latching onto his leg, but Lewis bit back -- he chomped down on the dog's side and did not release his bite until Bloom could pull him off Onyx.

Lewis was charged with assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct and cruelty to animals, while Bloom and Onyx were treated for their injuries.

Too bad they probably don't have a tape of the encounter, they could have sold it to one of those nature shows as an animal fight.

Then again, while Mr. Lewis doesn't sound like the most upstanding citizen, I'm not sure he should be charged with cruelty to animals: after all, the dog bit him first.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've wondered what the best way to defend myself against a dog might be, with grabbing it by its collar and holding it against the ground being one idea, however unrealistic. I've got nothing against biting a dog but I guess here it's a police dog so it's the same as assaulting an officer who tried to cuff you.

October 13, 2010 at 11:24 AM
John Craig said...

Anonymous --
I saw a guy once basically do exactly that. He tackled a Rottweiler and lay on top of it with his weight on its side, while it lay on its side. The guy's chest was near its neck so it couldn't twist around and bite him.

Then again, this guy was the dog's owner and he was trying to prevent it from tearing apart a large poodle which it had just attacked; if he hadn't been the owner, the dog might have struggled more and torn him apart, I don't know.

October 13, 2010 at 11:31 AM

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