Vancouver Police took the unusual step of presenting their side of a June 2011 incident in which a police dog mauled a skateboarder who has subsequently filed a lawsuit against them.
Deputy Chief Adam Palmer played a graphic video of skateboarder Chris Evans smashing a Coast Mountain bus repeatedly with his skateboard, screaming profanities and breaking windows on the passenger side of the vehicle.
That led to a call to the police, who responded with a canine squad. In the ensuing arrest Evans suffered extensive injuries to his leg.
“We want to provide some context because at this point you’ve only heard one side of the story,” said Palmer.
Police recommended charges against Evans but the crown decided to stay them.
In a Province story last week, Evans said he knew he did wrong – but thinks the resulting police-dog attack was way out of line.
Evans says he lost his temper when three buses drove right by him and he smashed the last one with a skateboard – but the vicious attack he suffered was complete overkill.
“For a moment of losing my temper, it’s a huge price to pay,” said the a 33-year-old construction worker. “I lost my apartment, I lost my job and my leg doesn’t work. What I did was wrong, but the repercussions are ridiculous.”
Evans said he required about 100 staples to close his wounds after the attack.
“When the bus took off, I decided to skateboard home,” said Evans. “I didn’t even know there were police around. A police dog should never be the first responder.”
Meanwhile, the Pivot Legal Society is asking the Vancouver Police Department to probe what it calls a “really high” number of instances of police dogs biting suspects.
According to statistics from the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC), between March 2011 and January 2012, 46 per cent of the reportable injuries received from B.C. municipal forces came from police dog bites. The year before it was 48 per cent. A recent OPCC quarterly report states that “most reportable injuries are as a result of police dog bites.”
So he can destroy property that is not his,possibly injure people on the bus,cause emotional stress to the bus drivers, break laws knowingly and then try to skate away where he was apprehended by a police dog who is faster than an officer can run. I see no problem with the police K9 taking down a criminal. That is what they are for. If the guy did not want to be bitten he could have stopped and not broken the law in the first place.
Maybe Mr. Evans should recouperate in Prison.
I truly agree with this statement……this friggin’ little jack*** would not have enountered the Police Dog if he hadn’t vandalized the buses and putting himself and others in jeopardy. The Police Dog was simpy doing what he had been commanded to do by the Police Officer, his handler. I am proud of the Police Officers backing up and defending their dogs because they are doing exactly what they have been trained to do. Good luck with suing the Police Dept., he needs to be in jail and quite frankly, heis damned lucky that he didn’t get bitten worse than he did. You can bet that he will be bitten again because of his wild and erratic mental conditon.
maybe you should be mauled like mr evans to see his point,besides the dogs aren`t there for hurting people,just like pittbulls getting a bad rap cause some idiot taught it the wrong things,those dogs are doing what the cops are telling them to do>attack!!!!! i saw it on one of the cop shows,the cop let the dog maul the guy,the guy wasn`t even moving>just screaming cause the cop couldn`t controll his dog that was biting chunks outa the guy`s leg.mmmm sounds fair>NOT
wow….
Thank you for sharing this article. I love it. Keep on writing this type of great stuff.
If your going to mess with the law….then the law will mess with you, whether or not they have 2 legs or 4 legs…..and whether they have guns or teeth. So stop vandalizing, and being a hoodlum and trust me you won’t have any of these problems………..We don’t feel sorry for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
??? Seriously? Kids do that stuff. its not right, its not legal, but that kind of injury is absurd.. And trust me, police attack and even kill innocent people all the time.. The dog should be put down and the handler should resign.