POLICE DOG KILLS GRAN
Innocent pensioner, 73, mauled in her own home after cops chase drug dealer
A GRAN died after being savaged by a police dog hunting a fleeing drug dealer, an inquest heard.
Cancer-sufferer Irene Collins, 73, was mauled at home by German shepherd Dano as officers searched her garden.
One policeman said: “She was crying, ‘Why is this happening to me?’”
AN officer has described the desperate moment when he tried to rescue a 73-year-old gran being savaged by a police dog in her kitchen.
Sergeant Neil Yates told an inquest how Irene Collins, who had cancer, was lying in a pool of blood with the German shepherd’s jaws clamped to her leg. She died four days later. He and dog handler PC Mark Baines had been in Mrs Collins’ garden searching for a drugs suspect when Dano slipped into her home.
The junior officer raced after it and Sgt Yates, who was armed, followed. He told the hearing: “Irene was shouting and screaming. She was upset and crying, ‘Why is this happening to me?’
“I could see that she had a small cut to her face and her head, and I could see Dano biting her right forearm. She was lying on the floor and the dog was on top of her. PC Baines had the dog by the collar and was shouting, ‘Leave.’
“I was shouting at PC Baines and he was trying to stay calm and get the dog off. I was holding her hand and telling her, ‘We will get the dog off.’”
The handler dragged Dano away and into a hallway. But it escaped and attacked Irene again as she lay helpless on the floor. The inquest heard there was no door between the rooms.
Sgt Yates said the dog “bit her right leg and stayed attached”. He added: “Frankly, I thought, ‘How the hell could this come back in here?’
“She was not doing anything to cause the dog to bite her again. It was DOG A German shepherd hanging on for five to 10 seconds but it seemed like an age.” Widow Irene, of Middlesbrough, suffered injuries to her face, head and leg. Sgt Yates told the inquest at Teesside magistrates court: “There was a lot of blood coming from her leg.” Barrister Matthew Donkin, representing Irene’s family, asked the officer if he had considered shooting the dog. He replied: “I considered everything, but it was nowhere near viable.” Irene, who had lung cancer and emphysema, was taken to hospital. Her son Eric told officers: “This would finish her off.” She was able to give a brief description of the attack. She told police: “I was in the kitchen, the dog came in. I thought if I stood still it would not bite me but it bit my arm. They got it off but it came back and got me by the leg.”
PC Baines was so upset by what happened he asked colleagues to tell Irene’s family “how devastated he was”.
A postmortem found the cause of death was cardio respiratory failure due to cancer, emphysema and bites. A pathologist said she would not have died when she did but for the attack.
Sgt Yates and PC Baines had been called to Irene’s home on July 16, 2014 as they chased a man involved in a £100,000 drugs deal, who they believed was hiding in a garden backing on to hers.
Checks later found her back door did not close properly.
The inquest, which will consider Dano’s training and previous behaviour, among other issues, continues.