Woman accuses officer of abusing K-9, police claim training technique

WORCESTER, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman witnessed a police officer reprimanding a K-9 but said the officer’s techniques were aggressive and abusive.

“I saw the officer swing his leg up and kick the dog, and the dog yelped like it hurt him,” Danielle Stevens told Boston news channel WFXT-TV.

Stevens, who had just returned to her home in Worcester, said the officer was in a nearby park with the dog on Thursday night. She became so concerned about the officer’s treatment of the K-9 that she started recording video on her phone. The officer can be seen yanking the dog’s leash aggressively as the dog balances on two feet. The dog was then put into the police cruiser.

“No dog deserves to get kicked. He can’t speak up for himself. He can’t apologize to you,” Stevens said. “And then the way he held him up, which is pretty clear in the video that that dog was up high, there was no need for that at all.”

In a statement, the Worcester Police Department said the dog was being disobedient and the officer in question has experience training K-9s.

“After conducting a K-9 nighttime tracking exercise on the evening of August 13th, a WPD K-9 officer with many years’ experience handling K-9s was placing his K-9 in the cruiser when the K-9 became disobedient to the officer,” the department said. “The officer performed an immediate correction to discourage this negative behavior. The K-9 was wearing a flat collar, which minimizes strain on the K-9′s neck. After the K-9 followed the officer’s instructions, the officer kenneled the K-9 and then praised him.”

The department continued: “Multiple K-9 trainers have viewed the video in question and have said that the officer’s technique is consistent with his training. An immediate investigation was performed at the supervisory level and passed up the chain of command.”

Stevens said the incident was disturbing.

“That dog is not being treated how he should be treated when he’s assisting these officers in their investigations,” she said. “It was just really ... sad to see. I love animals, especially dogs, and it broke my heart to see that ... But I’m hoping for the best for that dog, and I hope that dog doesn’t get put in that situation again because it was horrible to see.”