Second Person This Month Mistakenly Bitten By Police Dog In Regina

REGINA — Police in Regina say they are reviewing another incident where a police dog mistakenly bit someone.

Linus Kaysaywaysemat says he was outside smoking a cigarette last Thursday when he was bitten by a Regina Police Service dog.

He says the dog chewed on his arm for a few minutes before police were able to get the animal off him.

Earlier last week, another police dog that was leashed during a training exercise turned a corner and bit a 56-year-old man on the leg.

Superintendent Darcy Koch says police are collecting information on both cases and will forward it to the Use of Force board.

He says it's a concern whenever a citizen is wrongly bitten by a police dog.

"It's a mistake that was made and we're going to make sure that we're going to make any corrections that might need to come from that," Koch said.

Koch said the dog on Thursday was tracking a suspect in an active investigation and that police are looking into why it bit someone who wasn't a suspect.

One possibility, he said, was the man shared the same scent as the suspect. Another is that the dog was surprised by the sudden appearance of the man.

Kaysaywaysemat said the dog was on him so quickly, he didn't have time to react.

"I just had time to look over to my loved one and tell her that there was a dog, and by the time that we looked back, it was biting on my arm," he said.

"One of my boys said he'd seen the dog bite my arm, and when the dog let go of my arm, he said the dog's teeth were bloody."

He said his daughter had a nightmare after the incident and he had to comfort them because they believed the dog would be coming back.

Koch says the dogs are trained to a provincial standard and are subject to on-going training as well.

Both of the dogs are still on active duty.