http://www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/鈥?/a>
THIBODAUX -- Residents of a city apartment complex say a police dog went after two children when an officer released it, even though the man he sought was already subdued and handcuffed.
Thibodaux Police Chief Craig Melancon said this morning that he suspended officer Ronnie Comeaux one day without pay after a hearing Friday found that the officer wrongfully took his dog out of his car without a leash during a misdemeanor traffic stop. Melancon said his department鈥檚 two dogs are supposed to be used for felony stops, building searches and drug detection.
Comeaux, who was scheduled to return to work today, will also have to take a course with his dog, Renata. The dog has been taken off patrol missions until it is retrained, Melancon said.
The chief disputed allegations that the dog was purposely unleashed on a crowded street. Instead, Melancon said, the dog broke loose when the officer tried to leash it. The chief said this was the first time he could recall a Thibodaux Police dog breaking loose of its handler.
The incident occurred between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Wednesday outside St. Charles Manor apartments near Sanders Street. Witnesses say Comeaux, a three-year veteran of the department, according to Melancon, said, "Go get him," then released his dog in the direction of Quincy
Wagner, who was handcuffed, barefoot and kneeling on the ground. Wagner had moments earlier fled the officer after a disputed traffic stop, but surrendered after running a short distance on Sanders Street, which runs parallel to the apartment complex.
The dog circled Wagner twice, witnesses said, before knocking a 12-year-old boy down and biting the pants leg of a 10-year-old boy, who had sought refuge by climbing onto a parked car. Neither child was seriously injured. Apartment residents estimated the dog ran free for six to eight minutes while officers issued it commands. Finally, an officer grabbed the dog.
'HE NEEDS TO BE FIRED鈥?br>
Lafourche NAACP President Burnell Tolbert equated Comeaux鈥檚 one-day suspension with a slap on the wrist.
"I think he needs to be fired," Tolbert said.
Further, Tolbert asserted the incident shows that Comeaux was not properly trained.
"We鈥檝e got good control of the dogs," Melancon said. "You have to remember the dogs are highly trained, but they are still dogs."
Courtney Phipps and Sheila Williams, the mothers of the two boys, asked for apologies from police and questioned why Comeaux would release the dog onto a street full of children, particularly when the suspect had been subdued. The mothers added they weren鈥檛 allowed to provide a signed statement when they went to the department Wednesday night. Williams said she met with an officer named John Sutton, but that all he did was take her name.
"They did come in," Melancon said of the two mothers, "but they came in at the officer鈥檚 request. The children were photographed, and we spoke to the parents. The parents were rightfully upset."
The mothers also aren鈥檛 pleased with the way officers responded to them on the scene. Phipps said a police officer told her that her child, 10-year-old son Semaj Alleyne, was in the wrong for running from the dog. Williams said another officer told her 12-year-old son Devaughn Brown that if he didn鈥檛 stop crying, he would go to jail.
For his part, Wagner, a 24-year-old Thibodaux resident, said he has yet to receive a traffic ticket for obstruction of traffic, for which Comeaux originally stopped him. Wagner paid a $200 bond on a resisting-arrest charge and an obstruction-of-a-roadway violation and was released from the Lafourche Parish jail Wednesday night. He has a Sept. 10 court date.|||If this story is accurate I think the police officer should be reprimanded. If the person was already restrained and he released a dog on it which obviously can't tell the difference between children and a restrained man, then someone needs to learn some restraint and common sense. I think certain law enforcement agencies (not all) are given way too much power and way too little training. Having a badge and 60 hours from a community college or some experience in the military might not cut it. Maybe stiffer requirements should be required of all officers, like, hmmm, maybe a minimum of a bachelor's degree and 1 year of training??|||Sounds like a fair decision based on the facts presented. His dog breaks away and you want him fired? It was an accident and they took steps to insure it wouldn't happen again.|||Too bad this happened but perhaps the kids were in the way and getting the dog over excited.
What where they doing hanging around a criminal and a policeman?
Sorry, I love dogs and I know those dogs are trained very well. Something more must of been going on to get the dog out of control.|||If this guy did this intenionally, he should be prosecuted on whatever crimimal charges apply .|||Well since the NAACP wants him fired, then it is probably blown out of proportion, as usual. Remember the Duke fiasco?|||I have no problem with it. The kids should have stayed the hell away. The handcuffed guy had it coming.|||You make it sound as if the officer did it on purpose, when the article says the dog broke free from the officer who was trying to get it on a leash.
Do you even read your cut %26amp; pasted articles before you post them?|||Under the circumstances, I think the Chief has acted appropriately. He suspended the officer for one day without pay for failing to handle the dog according to policy and procedure and has removed the dog from service until it receives more proper training.
The NAACP has their own agenda and it has little to do with protecting their own people and more to do with media exposure. If any employee was fired every time a minor mishap occurred, all of us would be unemployed; members of the the NAACP included.
Based on the circumstances included in the article, the incident should be put to rest.|||Sounds like the dog and officer should be removed from K-9 service. As no one was seriously hurt, this was a first time offense, a reprimand seems sufficient.|||And investigation by the police departement into the arrest and events that followed, and appropriate displanary action.
In the mean time, warm applauds for an officers trying to keep the streets safe.
Why were the children allowed to loiter around the scene in the first place? If children see police and a police dog chasing a man they should scatter to avoid accidentaly becoming a part of the incident or being injured.|||The police and judicial system are dangerous and out of control. I don't trust them at all.
I hope the kids are OK.
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