Saskatoon police refuse to release policy on how they use dogs after violent arrest
CBC
Warning: this story contains distressing details and images.
Edward Soonias says he doesn't remember the car chase, the sirens or Saskatoon police officers chasing him on foot across the park in the city's Meadowgreen neighbourhood.
The 23-year-old does remember sitting slumped against a fence between two garages in an alley in the dark, "thinking what I did was dumb."
He also remembers the police dog.
"I just remember looking up and there's the dog, right there. Right when we looked at each other, the dog went right at my arm," he said in an interview.
"They just let the dog attack me and I said, 'I'm not even resisting, I'm not resisting.' I said, 'Get your dog off me, what are you doing?' And that's when I started seeing chunks of meat by my head. From the light of the flashlight I could see my arm being ripped."
The arrest happened around 3:30 a.m. CST on Sept. 21. Five hours later, Saskatoon police contacted the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT). The outside agency will investigate the circumstances of the arrest and the cause of Soonias's injury.
The Saskatoon Police Service will not release its written policy on how police service dogs are used, or do interviews on the general subject, because of the SIRT investigation.
"It's also not our practice to release copies of our policies, but if you're so inclined, you can try to obtain it through a FOIPP (freedom of information and protection of privacy) request," spokeswoman Kelsie Fraser said in an email.
Saskatoon lawyer Nicholas Blenkinsop said this approach undercuts the credibility of police. He's handled a half-dozen cases where suspects have been injured by police dogs.
Blenkinsop, who is also a former prosecutor, said that in his experience the Saskatoon service is anything but transparent about its policies around when and how the dogs are used.
"We need to have robust and ample systems of accountability, because otherwise their legitimacy is going to be undermined," he said in an interview.
"One of the ways you ensure their accountability is to make sure there is easy access to lots of information about what they are doing and how they are doing it."
On Sept. 25, SIRT sent out a news release saying it would be investigating what happened to Soonias. The release partially corroborates Soonias's account of what happened.
