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As a former K9 officer, I feel compelled to comment on the video. Even understand that what we are seeing is a very short period of a much longer vehicle pursuit, there is nothing that I see or know about the incident that justifies deployment of the dog under those circumstances. What I see is a very poor handler, with very poor decision-making skills and someone who is unable to act calmly while adrenalized. It’s unfortunate that unskilled handlers like this cause situations that damage the public’s trust in the vast majority of handlers that properly use their dogs with discretion and under appropriate circumstances. I will be very surprised if that officer is not terminated and it is my hope that gentleman is rightly compensated. Plain language, the handler made a HUGE mistake, deserves to lose his dog and job, and Circleville needs to make things right for the gentleman injured.
