Feb 1, 2012
City of Vancouver Being Sued Over Use of Police Dogs
Pivot Legal Society, on behalf of client Christopher Evans, filed a lawsuit against the City of Vancouver on Thursday, January 26th 2012, for alleged careless and excessive use of a police dog. During the incident in question, which occurred last summer, Mr. Evans was bitten on his right calf and thigh during an arrest, and says that he was not aware he was being pursued by the police until the point of attack. As a result of the incident, Mr. Evans required nearly 100 staples to close the wounds and subsequently lost his job at a warehouse because he could not put weight on the leg for two months. The lawsuit comes a week after Pivot obtained statistics from the Police Complaints Commission that Vancouver accounts for nearly three-quarters of all police dog bite injuries in municipal police districts in the province since March 2010, and that 46 percent of all serious injuries caused and reported by municipal police in BC are caused by police dog bites. Pivot is hoping the lawsuit will prompt the Vancouver Police Department to reconsider the legal society’s prior request to change from a “bite and hold” to a “bark and hold” method. Read articles here and here for more information.
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