A Michigan police officer is charged in an incident in which he put his dog on a driver and kept the biting animal on the man for nearly four minutes, even though the driver pleaded for help, state police said Friday.
The soldier, Parker Surbrook, was charged with a single assault during the arrest on November 18 in Lansing, in which a driver with a passenger who was allegedly armed fled from a traffic stop and crashed into a tree, the police said. in a statement. Surbrook ‘had his dog deployed on the driver for a long time’ in violation of the policy and ignored the driver’s pleas for help, police said.
Surbrook was arrested Friday, police said. An attorney who represented him during an investigation did not immediately return an email for comment Monday night.
State police said Surbrook’s actions were uncovered during a routine investigation in December and that a supervisor reviewing the video “immediately recognized multiple policy violations” and filed a complaint.
The dog held the driver for nearly four minutes, including nearly two minutes after the passenger was handcuffed by another officer, according to a police investigation report. According to the report, a gun was recovered during the arrest of the passenger.
The driver, who sustained a broken hip, begged the dog to be turned off and offered no resistance, police wrote in the report, which was partially redirected.
Col. Joe Gasper, director of the Michigan State Police, said in the statement that although violence should sometimes be used, “care and concern for human lives should always be at the forefront of any action by a police officer.”
“This makes Trooper Surbrook’s contempt for the driver’s pleas for help totally unacceptable, ‘Gasper said.
A supervisor and trainer of the state unit for dog units told an investigator that the use of the dog in the first part of the arrest appears to be within police policy, according to the police report.
But after the passenger was handcuffed, Surbrook must have worked with the other officer to handcuff the driver, the supervisor said, according to the report. There were other options as well, but the sections of the report are redirected.
Instead, Surbrook waited for other officers to arrive and kept the dog on the driver, who reportedly argued that the dog should be removed at least five times in just two minutes.
Surbrook has been with the state police since 2012 and a dog handler since 2017, state police said. He was placed on leave in December, according to police and was suspended unpaid, according to police.
