Montana police dog attacks man for 15 minutes before officer 'forced' to kill it, cops say

Sara Schilling, The Charlotte Observer on Dec 3, 2024

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A Montana police officer was forced to kill a K-9 from another department after the animal attacked a man and couldn’t be stopped using “multiple non-lethal methods,” officials said.

The officer from the Laurel Police Department ultimately ended the roughly 15-minute attack with “two fatal blows” to the dog’s head, the department said in a news release.

The dog was a Belgian Malinois belonging to Montana Highway Patrol, officials said. The patrol didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment but told KRTV that it was investigating and wished the victim a speedy recovery.

The victim was taken to a hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries, police said.

The attack happened at about 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving, police said. The victim had gone outside to put up Christmas lights, KTVQ reported.

When the Laurel officer arrived, he “attempted multiple non-lethal methods to stop the attack and was assisted by the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department’s chief who had arrived with a catch pole,” police said.

“In my mind I was thinking, ‘Is he going to switch and come at us?’ I really thought that we were all probably going to end up getting bit at some point,” Fire Chief JW Hopper told KTVQ.

Laurel city officials described the situation as unavoidable.

“The city wants to express its sadness about the death of the canine involved, and the impact upon the victim involved,” city officials said in a statement on Facebook.

“The priority in this situation was protecting the health and well-being of the victim involved, and protecting innocent third parties, including law enforcement and the EMS personnel responding. The responding personnel, in a crisis situation, did everything possible to diffuse the situation before any lethal force was involved,” the city said.

It’s at least the second time in recent weeks that a police dog was killed after it wouldn’t stop attacking someone. On Nov. 19 in Arizona, a deputy marshal shot and killed his K-9 partner after the dog latched onto his leg and wouldn’t let go, McClatchy News previously reported.

Police dog attack statistics aren’t easy to come by nationally, but The Marshall Project examined more than 150 cases in an investigation with AL.com, The Indianapolis Star and the Invisible Institute. The cases involved a range of circumstances, including three instances where an attack led to a person’s death, the investigation found.

Laurel is about a 15-mile drive southwest of Billings.

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