CINCINNATI — A 17-year-old Cincinnati boy is speaking out after he was bitten by a police dog during a warrant execution at his home earlier this year, in an incident his attorney calls "the most excessively brutal thing" she's ever seen.
The teen, whose identity is being protected due to his age, said he was asleep in bed when Cincinnati police officers arrived at his mother's home with a warrant for his arrest. He had allegedly violated the conditions of his electronic monitoring by leaving the house weeks earlier in connection with a pending auto theft case.
Body camera footage shows officers giving commands for several minutes before deploying the K-9. "Tell him we're going to send a dog in if he doesn't come out," an officer can be heard saying in the video obtained through a public records request.
The teen agreed to speak with us under the terms of anonymity. He claims he did not hear the officers' commands.
"I was on top of the bed asleep, and then once I just felt the dog biting me, that's when I tried to hop up," he told us. "I was asleep. I ain't hear nothing. I just feel something latch onto my arm. So, I tried to hop out of the bed and run, like, get to somebody, because I just feel something just bite in my arm, and they wouldn't let go."
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After the K9 dragged the teen into a hallway, officers ordered him to get down while the dog continued biting his arm, the teen said.
"I was shocked at first, and then, like, when I just seen all the officers, it was like I was just scared," he said. "That's when the officers just telling me to get down. Got a taser in the back of my head ... they just kept telling me to get down. I was trying, and the dog was just still biting me."
'Hostile takedown'
The teen's mother, Micki Mapp, said she had some prior knowledge that officers might come to her home, but was not prepared for the magnitude of the response she witnessed.
She said she was on the phone with her son during the incident and remained on the call until she arrived at the scene.
"I was highly upset and shocked to tears to see my kid standing there bloody and surrounded by so many officers," Mapp said. "I mean, it was unbelievable. I counted in front of my house alone about 11 cars, and not to mention the side street as well. They were out of sight, out of mind."
Mapp said officers never informed her they would be bringing a police dog or conducting what she calls a "hostile takedown." She said, regardless of why her son didn't immediately respond to police commands, the level of force used was unjustified.
"He could have been scared. He could have been asleep. He was in my bed. He could, he, he could be a hard sleeper. Who knows? I wasn't there," Mapp said.
She questioned why officers continued using force even after her son was apprehended.
"They came in, you know, and once he was apprehended, you know, tasers, gun still, dog on them. What? What was that about?" Mapp said. "You were so in fear of your life that you sent the canine in after him. Once he was apprehended and down."
Mapp said there's no excuse for why her son did not come out of the house.
"He didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve that for whatever reason. He's still a child," Mapp said.
Injuries required hospital treatment
After the dog was removed, the teen was taken outside, where he waited for medical attention.
The teen received stitches during his initial hospital visit, but Mapp said the injuries became infected days later.
"From my understanding, something that canines typically get bacterial infections, and he caught that and was in a hospital for a week," Mapp said. "I didn't even know that until he was already in there after 24 hours, and you did not know, because he was being held at juvenile."
'Excessively brutal'
Ali Archual, a trial attorney with the Hamilton County Public Defender's Office Youth Defense Division who represented the teen in his auto theft case, said the incident was unnecessary and extreme.
"You know, I watch a lot of body-worn in my job, and this is just kind of the most excessively brutal thing I've ever seen," Archual said.
Archual said she learned about the incident when she arrived at court for the teen's trial and found him in holding with a new obstruction of official business charge. She said his entire left arm was wrapped in gauze and bleeding through the bandage.
"He's been really consistent that he didn't hear it, that he was asleep in his bed, that he's a heavy sleeper," Archual said. "But even if that weren't the case, even if he just remained in the room and didn't come out per police commands, I don't think that justifies what happened here."
Through public records requests, Archual said she discovered that the police canine used in the incident had never been used to apprehend and detain a suspect before.
"To utilize a canine in that way, for the first time, on a child, I think, is really concerning and troubling, and again, just seemed really unnecessary," Archual said.
A draft report obtained through a public records request shows a supervisor reviewed the video and approved the use of the K-9. According to CPD's Use of Force policy, officers are permitted to use "reasonable" force if persuasion, warnings and tactical positioning don't work.
A K-9 deployment is justified when a "serious criminal suspect is actively resisting or fleeing," according to the policy.
"It struck me as abnormal, particularly where he was charged with something non-violent. They were there for really the simple allegation that he had left his house when he wasn't supposed to," Archual said. "I don't know why they had to execute the warrant that day. I don't know why they chose to do it in that way."
Charges eventually dismissed
The electronic monitoring violation that prompted the warrant was dismissed the day after the incident, along with the original theft case, according to Archual.
The obstruction of official business charge stemming from the April incident was dismissed in October.
"That was partially why I wanted to do a trial on this obstruction case, so that I would be able to get testimony about why that happened, about what was going on. And I didn't get the opportunity to do that because the prosecutor's office, I think, correctly and rightfully, dismissed the case prior to trial," Archual said.
Lasting trauma
The incident has left lasting trauma on the teen, who said he now fears dogs and has lost trust in police.
"I just feel like I got to protect myself," the teen said. "When I see (a police dog), or get around any dogs, I do not like dogs ... it's like I'm scared. Feel like I'm gonna just get bit for no reason again."
Mapp said she has observed those changes in her son's behavior since the incident.
"I see a fear of dogs in my son, police dogs, to be particularly clear, because we are not around (dogs). We're cat people. We have cats. We don't have dogs," Mapp said. "And he has a fear. He has a fear of dogs. He has a fear of officers as well."
Seeking accountability
Mapp said she plans to file a citizen complaint over the incident and believes the response was completely unnecessary for a juvenile.
"Certain situations call for different protocols or different standards. He's a child," Mapp said. "Under no circumstances did it result for him, for them to come the way that they did for any of his charges, pending, non-pending, or allegations. That was unnecessary, that was totally unnecessary."
Despite the experience, Mapp said she still supports law enforcement but wants accountability and better training when dealing with children.
"I love my boys and girls in blue. I do. I have nothing against them because I need them," Mapp said. "But for my son, he didn't deserve that. What did he do for him to have that, that type of damage done to him?"
Mapp said that her son is still finding his way and hopes he can eventually trust the police again.
"These are the guys that we call when we need help, when we need safety, and I just hope that one day he can forgive and be okay ... with the officers coming up or still in the force, that they can learn to treat kids, treat everyone with dignity and respect, and that's it," Mapp said.
Archual said she's still waiting for answers from the police. In the meantime, she said she wants to ensure no one else experiences what the teen went through.
