Body camera footage shows a police officer in Ohio releasing a K-9 dog on a truck driver despite commands to stop the dog from at least one state trooper. The dog was released as the man, who is Black, appeared to be surrendering after a chase earlier this month.
The incident, captured on the morning of July 4, is now being investigated by U.S., state and local police in Ohio.
State troopers say they were attempting to inspect a semi-truck on I-35 in Ohio, noticing a missing rear mud flap. The truck's driver, 23-year-old Jadarrius Rose, didn't pull over, leading to a pursuit with multiple police cruisers.
Eventually, Rose did stop, but when officers exited their vehicles with guns drawn, he pulled away, tearing his left tire by speeding through a spike strip, effectively ending the chase.
Body cam footage shows Rose then exiting the vehicle and seemingly complying with officers' instructions, with his hands up. A state trooper can be heard telling the local Circleville police not to release their K-9 onto Rose, saying, "Do not release the dog with his hands up! Do not release the dog with his hands up!"
Despite at least one warning, an officer released the dog and it bit Rose, holding its grip for over 30 seconds while Rose screamed for officers to intervene.
An officer can be heard yelling, "Get the dog off of him!" The dog was eventually pulled away from Rose, who was then handcuffed before officers called for first aid. He was bleeding heavily and taken to a local hospital.
Rose was later jailed for three days before being released.
Brian Higgins, a professor at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice, said part of the problem appeared to be miscommunication between state and local police.
"When you have other agencies ... that then descend on the incident, they have to be in some sort of agreement as to what the use of force practices will be," said Higgins.
Both the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Circleville Police Department say an investigation is underway into what happened.
The Circleville police would not respond to questions about whether the officer who released the dog onto Rose has been placed on leave.
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