Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock (dpa/lnw) – In an incident on the outside of a police training facility in East Westphalia, an officer was injured and a police dog was killed. As the police in Bielefeld announced on Friday, the incident had occurred in the town of Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock (Gütersloh district) on the area of ??a state police facility. Training with police dogs took place there independently of one another, as well as shooting exercises for several police officers at the same time, a spokesman said at the request of the German Press Agency.
A service dog is said to have bitten and injured an officer who, according to current knowledge, is said to have drawn his service weapon and shot the dog. The policeman went to the hospital. In view of the ongoing investigations, it is not yet possible to comment on the details, the spokesman said.
According to “Westfalen-Blatt”, a policeman’s shepherd dog from Herford had overcome an earth wall that spatially separated the two exercises. For an unknown reason, he suddenly ran in the direction of the officers. The animal bit the policeman and didn’t let go until he pulled the gun. The man was seriously injured.
The police spokesman said that it would also be checked whether there were any criminal or administrative violations. The dog killed was an experienced animal, not a training dog. The incident was tragic for the injured officer. “But it’s also difficult for the service dog handler who has lost a four-legged colleague.”
