Police dog tested for brain damage after being thrown out window
A Fontana police dog was evaluated for a possible brain injury or other physical damage after he was thrown out of a second-story window, allegedly by a parolee.
Jaris, a 6½-year-old Belgian Malinois, was taken to a veterinary specialist Monday, The Sun reported. Authorities are waiting for test results to determine whether he suffered brain damage.
“This is a first,” Lt. Gary Aulis, head of the department’s K-9 program, told the newspaper. “Of the dogs injured in the line of duty, we’ve never had something even remotely like this happen.”
Jaris was searching with officers Sunday afternoon for a parolee at a home in the 95000 block of Mango Avenue, the Fontana Police Department said in a statement.
The parolee, identified by authorities as Bryan Bills, 28, refused commands to surrender to officers, who decided to send Jaris into a room where the suspect was holed up, according to police.
As Jaris lunged toward Bills, the parolee used the dog’s momentum to throw the animal out the window, police said.
“Jaris was not able to stop himself and fell to the concrete below,” police said. “He was bleeding from the nose and was staggering.”
The animal was loaded into a police cruiser and rushed to an emergency veterinarian for treatment.
Bills allegedly fought officers before he was finally subdued. He was arrested on suspicion of parole violations, resisting arrest and intentional injury to a police dog.
Jaris has suffered minor bumps and bruises in the five years he has worked for the department, authorities told the Sun.
“Most suspects can’t just sit there when they’re being bit by a dog,” Aulis told the Sun. “They hit, kick, pull -- whatever they can do to get the dog off them.”
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