October 10, 2014
Arkansas – A Carroll County Sheriff’s Office K-9 that attacked a suspect during an incident in Green Forest bit the suspect’s thigh for approximately 90 seconds despite a deputy’s repeated commands for the dog to release, a video recording of the incident shows.
The video shows the deputy cursing at the suspect twice — once while the man is being bitten by the dog and once after the dog releases.
The Carroll County News obtained a copy of the video recording earlier this week.
The incident occurred on Sept. 20. Green Forest officers were called to an apartment complex where 24-year-old Brennan Badley was reportedly inside a residence and had a gun.
CCSO Deputy D.J. Harlan and his K-9 partner, Tyson, arrived on the scene to assist the Green Forest officers.
According to a report by Green Forest officer Tucker Mallett, Badley ran out the back door of an apartment and the officers followed and quickly persuaded Badley to surrender.
The video recording, which appears to be from a camera on Harlan’s person, begins with Badley walking toward the camera with his hands on top of his head. A Green Forest officer is then shown approaching Badley with his weapon drawn, and Badley turns his back to the officer and kneels on the street. The Green Forest officer approaches as Badley places his hands behind his head. The Green Forest officer then pushes Badley into a prone position.
At the same time, Tyson can be seen in the foreground of the video, yelping and apparently excited.
A second Carroll County deputy then moves closer to assist the Green Forest officer and someone can be heard saying that Badley has a knife in one of his pockets. At this point, approximately a minute and five seconds into the video, Tyson is barking loudly and appears to be tugging on his lead while Harlan attempts to calm him.
Approximately one minute and 40 seconds into the video, Harlan and Tyson move to a different location on the left of the suspect.
At the 1:50 mark a voice that is apparently Harlan is heard saying “He had something. Where’s it at?” At this point a Green Forest officer is standing above Badley, with one leg on each side of the suspect.
At approximately the 2:35 mark the Green Forest officer cuffs Badley’s hands behind his back. The Green Forest officer then steps to Badley’s right side and at the 2:59 mark, Badley rolls slightly onto his left side and appears to speak to the Green Forest officer.
At the 3:02 mark, Tyson appears to pull away from Harlan. At this point, one Green Forest officer is on Badley’s right side and a second is on his left side.
Tyson reaches Badley at the 3:04 mark and bites Badley on his left thigh.
As Badley screams in pain, Harlan first calls Tyson’s name and then steps toward Badley and tells him not to move. At this point, Badley is rolling onto his right side.
Badley can be heard saying “Get that dog off me,” and then curses twice as he continues to writhe in pain.
“Stop ****** movin’!” Harlan says with a raised voice around the 3:20 mark.
“I’m sorry,” Badley responds.
Harlan appears to order Tyson at least three times to release but the dog does not let go of Badley’s leg.
“Please, please, please,” Badley says. “Please pull that dog off me.”
Harlan can then be heard calling Tyson’s name two more times, while the dog can be seen with his mouth still on Badley’s thigh.
“Please. I can’t be still much longer,” Badley says.
“Why is he not lettin’ go?” another voice says.
Harlan appears to give the command for Tyson to release again, but the dog continues to bite Badley’s leg.
“Get a bar and put it in his mouth or somethin’,” Badley says, followed with a curse word that is repeated twice.
At approximately the 4:29 mark, the camera appears to show Harlan backing up, and the dog is no longer biting Badley.
Badley rolls into a seated position, then rolls face down again.
“When I say don’t move, don’t move, please,” Harlan says. “… When we have a K-9 sittin’ there, don’t ***** move, until you’re told to.”
Harlan can then be heard saying, apparently to the other CCSO deputy, “Go get in the car.”
The video ends at the 5:42 mark.
Badley was transported to Mercy Hospital in Berryville, where he was treated. According to Mallett’s report, Badley admitted throwing a gun while being chased by officers. Another Green Forest officer located the gun.
After being treated, Badley was arrested on a previous warrant for first-degree criminal mischief, according to Mallett’s report. He was not charged in connection with the incident that resulted in the dog bite.
Mallett wrote in his report that Badley’s medical expenses were paid by CCSO.
In an interview before the video recording was obtained, CCSO Lt. Michael Zimmerman explained that the dog reacted to Badley’s movement according to his training, noting that Tyson hasn’t attacked other suspects once they were on the ground.
“It’s not like this particular dog just runs and bites anyone who is around,” he said. “There are specific things he looks for. This guys rolls over on his right side and Tyson thinks he’s trying to run away.”
Zimmerman said that the attack occurred because the arresting officers and the county officers were not communicating well, which is “necessary” when dealing with police dogs.
“When a K-9 team is on the scene, everything needs to be communicated,” Zimmerman said. “No one communicated with the K-9.”
Tyson is an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois, according to Zimmerman. On a separate video recording taken while Badley was being treated at the hospital, a voice says that Tyson “has titanium teeth.”
Zimmerman said Tyson has one titanium cap.
Carroll County Sheriff Bob Grudek did not return messages left at his office and on his cell phone by press time.
Green Forest Police Chief John Bailey said he understands that mistakes can happen, but he was frustrated that CCSO officials attributed the incident to a lack of communication.
“I don’t understand why they want to try to blame anyone else,” Bailey said. “… Generally when you have this kind of failure it’s due to a lack of training. … I believe it was an accident. The dog was excited, got loose and unfortunately the man got bitten. If we had a dog that did something like that it would be standard procedure that the dog would be offline until evaluated and re-certified.”
The video can be viewed below. Please note that it is graphic and includes profanity. It may be disturbing to some viewers.