Screams of woman, 73, who died after police dog attack
‘Why is this happening to me,’ pleaded frail victim as she was savaged twice
A FRAIL pensioner who died after being savaged by a police dog screamed ‘why is this happening to me’ as it returned to attack her for a second time, an inquest heard.
A coroner was told Irene Collins, 73, was repeatedly bitten in her kitchen by police dog Dano, which had been sent into her garden during a hunt for a suspected drug dealer.
The German shepherd burst through Mrs Collins’ back door and attacked her. Dano was successfully dragged away by its handler, PC Mark Baines, but struggled free and ran back to the kitchen to bite the pensioner again. A jury at Teeside Coroner’s Court was told Mrs Collins was ‘shouting and crying’ as she was mauled at her Middlesbrough home on July 16, 2014. She died in hospital four days later.
Mrs Collins suffered from lung cancer and emphysema but assistant coroner Karin Welch said she would not have died had she not been bitten by the dog. The inquest heard PC Baines was called to Mrs Collins’ house as part of a search operation following the recovery of £100,000 in cash and heroin from a car. Dano carried out a sweep of the garden with its handler before it burst into the house.
Sergeant Neil Yates, who was in charge of the operation, said he rushed into the kitchen after hearing PC Baines say over his radio: ‘The householder has been bitten.’
Sgt Yates said: ‘Mrs Collins was lying on the floor. I could see she had a small cut to her face and head and the police dog was biting her on the right forearm.
‘The dog was over the top of her. PC Baines had hold of its collar and was shouting: “leave”. She had an injury to her right leg. There was quite a lot of blood on the floor.’
PC Baines dragged the dog away and Sgt Yates began to give Mrs Collins first aid but Dano broke free to attack her again. The sergeant said: ‘The dog again bites the right leg of Mrs Collins, again it locks on to her leg, it bites down.’
Sgt Yates said Mrs Collins was shouting and screaming, adding: ‘She was crying, asking “Why is this happening to me?” ‘I held her hand saying, “It’s all right we’ll get the dog off you.”’
After ‘hanging on for what seemed like an age’, the dog was finally dragged away by PC Baines.
Mrs Collins gave a brief description of what happened from her hospital bed, telling officers: ‘I thought if I stood still it would not bite me but it bit me on the arm.’
Sgt Yates said he earlier got permission from Mrs Collins to carry out the search but agreed she would not have been aware a dog was involved. The hearing continues.