My police dog thought gran, 73, was attacking him as she stumbled
German shepherd mauled her 3 times, inquest told
A POLICE dog handler yesterday told how his German Shepherd savaged a gran after it mistook her stumble for an attack.
PC Mark Baines said Dano lunged at innocent Irene Collins, 73, as officers searched her garden for a fleeing drug dealer.
He pulled the seven-stone animal away after it clamped its jaws around her arm.
But as he held it with just one finger on a chain linked to its collar, Dano struck again in “fight mode” after the cancer-stricken, frail pensioner fell forward.
After being dragged away, it attacked for a third time. Irene died four days later in hospital.
PC Baines and Sergeant Neil Yates had been in Irene’s garden with Dano when the dog slipped into her kitchen through a door which did not shut properly.
The handler believed she may have tried to shoo the animal away and it struck at her arm.
PC Baines told the inquest: “I went into the kitchen and Mrs Collins was there with Dano. She was stood up and he had engaged her by her right arm.
“I moved towards him and located a small ring [on the chain] to pull him in. I told him ‘Dano out’ the command to release Mrs Collins. He did that.”
THREAT
Irene, who had lung cancer and emphysema, then fell forward. The officer added: “As she came towards me, Dano being a police dog sees that as a threat. So he re-engaged the bite.
“As she stumbled to me, she ended up on the floor and his lead ended up underneath her.”
PC Baines again pulled Dano away and Sgt Yates called for an ambulance as Irene lay on the floor in a pool of blood at her Middlesbrough home.
The officer told the inquest at Teesside magistrates court: “He was still in ‘prey drive’. That’s how we refer to it, still in fight mode. He heard the raised voice of Sgt Yates who was obviously concerned about Mrs Collins.
“The raised voices in the room heightened his state. I have one finger trying to control a seven stone police dog because I could not get the lead for him.
“He came backwards out of his collar and bit Mrs Collins on the rear of her leg.”
Irene died of cancer, emphysema and bites after the 2014 attack, the inquest heard. A pathologist ruled her ill health would not have caused her death at that time but for the bites.
The hearing continues.