Police dog attack on surrendering truck driver in Ohio prompts investigation

Ohio authorities are investigating an incident in which a police officer released a dog on a black truck driver who was trying to surrender.

The incident, which took place in the town of Circleville on 4 July, began after police tried to pull over a lorry that had failed to stop for inspection.

After a chase, the driver, Jadarrius Rose, emerged with his hands up, but was bitten by the police dog.

Mr Rose, 23, told dispatchers he feared for his life during the chase.

Circleville police were responding to a request from the Ohio Highway Patrol about a vehicle that had failed to stop after inspectors noticed a missing mud flap, according to mayor Don McIlroy.

Bodycam and dashcam footage of the incident shows a lengthy chase that ended with the lorry surrounded by police officers and vehicles.

Once the vehicle was stopped, one police officer can be heard telling Mr Rose to “get on the ground or you’re going to get bit”.

But another officer, believed to be an Ohio state trooper, can be heard repeatedly relaying instructions to “not release the dog with his hands up”.

Mr Rose complied with instructions from officers and had his hands up in the air. But the police dog – a German Shepherd – was released and seen pulling Mr Rose to the ground in a grassy area near the road.

In a 911 call made during the chase, Mr Rose said he feared that the officers were “trying to kill me” and that he did not understand why they “all had [their] guns drawn out for whatever reason”.

“I do not feel safe with stopping,” he said during the call, which Circleville authorities released to CNN on Monday. The dispatcher repeatedly tells Mr Rose to stop during the 911 call.

Mr Rose was treated at the scene before being taken into custody and charged with failure to comply, the Associated Press reported. He has since been released.

The incident is now being investigated by a “use of force” board made up of five community members.

Mr McIlroy told the local Fox 28 news outlet that the officer who released the K-9 police dog has faced disciplinary action in the past and has been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is carried out.

BBC News has contacted the Circleville police department for further comment.

The president of the nearby Columbus chapter of The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), Nana Watson, was quoted by CBS, the BBC’s US partner, as saying that the officer’s actions were “barbaric”.

She added that the incident elicits “horrible memories and images of the unleashing of dogs on civil activists that occurred in the south during the 1960s”. “It is our hope that a thorough investigation is conducted and that justice is served up to and including disciplinary action/termination of the involved officer,” she said.

The review board’s preliminary findings are expected to be released next week.