After a police dog attacked a robbery suspect, relatives are questioning the officers’ tactics, according to Channel 2 Action News.
The attack, which was captured on cellphone video, occurred Sunday on Peachtree Parkway in Peachtree City, the news station reported.
Police told Channel 2 that officers spent three minutes telling 54-year-old Charles Heard to exit a car.
Heard eventually got out of the car, and an officer told him to get down. When that did not happen, one of the officers instructed the police dog to bite him, authorities said.
Credit: Fayette County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Fayette County Sheriff's Office
Lt. Odilia Bergh said a K-9 officer tried to use a less harmful approach.
“It wasn’t until the individuals in the car escalated it that the situation got to where it got,” she said. Heard’s grandson and nephew were in the vehicle, too.
Chridarrius Heard, the grandson, said he was afraid to move after being given different directions from officers on the scene.
“The dude with the Taser was like, ‘Get out,’” he told Channel 2. “The dude with the gun said, ‘Stay in. Don’t move.’”
Chris Heard, the nephew, said he didn’t know what to do.
“If you make the wrong move,” he said, “somebody might want to pull the trigger.”
Eventually, Charles Heard was arrested on charges of obstructing an officer, battery (family violence) and motor vehicle hijacking.
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