SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- The Salt Lake City Police Department has suspended its use of K-9 officers to make contact with suspects.
A body camera video that surfaced this week shows a Black man being bitten by a police dog while kneeling to the ground with his hands up, according to KSL-TV.
The incident took place on April 24 when two police officers approached 36-year-old Jeffery Ryans in the yard of a home. An officer tells the man "get on the ground, or you’re going to get bit." Other officers can be heard telling Ryans to get “all the way down” on the ground.
The video shows Ryans with both hands in front of him, kneeling to the ground when the officer says “hit, hit, hit,” ordering K-9 Tuco to bite the man. The dog bit Ryans’ left leg several times as the officer continued ordering Tuco to bite Ryans as he lay face down on the ground while being handcuffed by a second officer.
The officer involved in the incident was placed on administrative leave as of Wednesday and the use of K-9s to make contact with suspects was been suspended by the department until the policies, procedures and training regarding K-9 officers are reviewed.
Ryans was arrested for investigation of violating a protective order alleging he had previously been served a protective order from a victim who lives at the address, and the victim confirmed that Ryans was inside the house at the time.
The arrest report makes no mention of the use of a police dog and Salt Lake City police said there was no complaint filed with the department’s internal affairs division, and that department leadership learned about the incident on Tuesday. Officials immediately launched an internal investigation to determine if the use of force followed the department’s policy, and to find out why the incident was not previously referred to internal affairs.
Below is the full statement released by the Salt Lake City Police Department:
We are aware of the incident involving Mr. Jeffery Ryans and his intention to file a lawsuit against the Salt Lake City Police Department for excessive use of force involving a police service dog. Although this incident occurred in April, no complaint was ever filed with the Department’s Internal Affairs. However, when senior leadership became aware of the situation yesterday, they immediately launched an Internal Affairs investigation to determine if the use of force was within policy and why the use of force was not referred to Internal Affairs at the time.
The investigation will consider the totality of the events that occurred that night. As with every complaint regarding use of force, the Salt Lake City Civilian Review Board will have the opportunity to review this investigation and make a separate finding that will be sent to the Chief of Police for consideration.
At this time, we have placed the officer on administrative leave pending the results of these investigations. SLCPD has also launched a thorough review process of the K9 apprehension program by external subject matter experts. In the meantime, SLCPD has suspended this K9 function until we review policies, procedures, training, and actual application in the field.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney is also reviewing the case. As there is pending litigation, we are unable to discuss the specifics of the case.
