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Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared a London officer of any wrongdoing in the summer arrest of a suspect bitten by a police dog.
The incident began at 3:11 p.m. June 24 when London police got a call about a man pulling a knife on employees at a computer store on Wellington Road, and leaving the scene in a white Volkswagen sedan, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said.
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An officer spotted the car on Western Counties Road and followed it until the driver stopped and ran into a wooded area, the SIU said.
Several officers and a police dog went into the woods to track the suspect. The dog picked up the scent, but police also came across a homeless encampment, where one person told officers where he’d seen the suspect, the SIU said.
Police caught up to the suspect and one officer gave an order to the dog, the SIU said.
The dog caught up to the suspect and bit into his right forearm, bringing him to the ground, the SIU said.
The man was taken to hospital for treatment of “multiple” cuts, the SIU said.
Police are allowed to use reasonable force in the execution of their duties, and officers had good reason to believe the suspect had committed a violent act, was armed with a knife and would resist arrest, the SIU concluded.
Using the canine officer avoided a potentially more serious physical interaction between police and the suspect, the SIU said.
The watchdog agency did not identify the police dog handler by name in its report.
The SIU is a civilian agency that probes all cases of serious injury, death, police-involved shootings and allegations of sexual assault involving police officers.
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