Watchdog clears Saskatoon officers in arrest where police dog seriously injured man
Contact that caused injury described as 'incidental' in SIRT report
Warning: this story contains graphic details and imagery.
The province's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) says Saskatoon police did nothing wrong during an arrest in which a police dog seriously injured a man.
It happened Sept. 21, 2023, when officers were tracking a suspect after a brief pursuit of a Jeep.
That man was 23-year-old Edward Soonias. He described his encounter with the police dog to CBC.
"I just remember looking up and there's the dog, right there. Right when we looked at each other, the dog went right at my arm," he said in an interview.
"They just let the dog attack me and I said, 'I'm not even resisting, I'm not resisting.' I said, 'Get your dog off me, what are you doing?' And that's when I started seeing chunks of meat by my head. From the light of the flashlight I could see my arm being ripped."
SIRT released its report exonerating police on July 23.
The six-page report described how police encountered the Jeep at around 3:30 a.m. CST when it was travelling east on 21st Street. As it passed the marked patrol unit, officers "observed the driver to be a male with a neck tattoo, wearing a light-coloured shirt and light-coloured hat."
The Jeep accelerated rapidly after passing the police. The officers U-turned, then gave chase with lights and sirens on.
Seven blocks later, the Jeep veered into Henry Cahill Park and took out a metal bench alongside the ball diamond. The crash disabled the Jeep. The driver and a woman took off on foot, leaving another man in the backseat.
An officer with a police dog arrived at the crash scene. What happened next is where the stories from Soonias and SIRT diverge.
Contrasting narratives
Soonias told CBC that he did not resist beyond trying to free his arm once the dog began tearing off chunks of flesh.
He said he could hear footsteps approaching as he sat between two garages.
"All I heard was them say, 'Right there,' and that was it. I could hear the footsteps coming closer, I could hear them coming closer for a while, they were walking around in that area, that's when they threw the dog over," he said.
"They didn't give a call out to the dog or anything."
Soonias said the dog mauled his arm for about 30 to 45 seconds, "then I just remember them going on top of me and just kind of punching me."
The SIRT report said 27 seconds elapsed from the time the officer and the dog went into the alley to when Soonias was arrested. They passed by a short fence that separated two garages.
The dog was initially leashed, but the report said the officer released it to climb over the short fence. That's when the dog discovered Soonias hiding under a piece of wood against the garage.
"The PSD (police service dog) contacted the left forearm of the affected person, who then grasped the PSD's head with his right arm," the report said.
"The subject officer shouted verbal commands to the affected person to stop fighting the PSD and delivered a single punch to the affected person, who then released his hold on the PSD."
The report concluded that, under the circumstances, police had the right to arrest Soonias using reasonable force because of the chase of the Jeep.
It said that his injury "was incidental and occurred during an attempt to track the affected person … rather than as a result of an intentional deployment of the PSD to engage with the affected person."
"Negligence offences require demonstration of wanton or reckless disregard for the lives and safety of other persons. In this case, the evidence falls far short of demonstrating such a departure. The PSD was controlled during the track on a 20-foot tracking lead and was released by the subject officer only momentarily to allow himself to climb a fence and continue the track."
It also said the officer used appropriate force— a single punch — to get Soonias to let go of the dog.
Soonias suffered nerve and muscle damage to his left forearm.
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