Police K-9 bites four-year-old during house raid

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http://www.wvec.com/news/norfolk/stories/wvec_local_061009_child_bitten_by_k-9_norf.69abfc72.html

Exclusive: Norfolk Police K-9 bites four-year-old

06:15 PM EDT on Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Reported by: Patrick Terpstra

NORFOLK -- A four-year-old is recovering after being bitten in several locations on his body by a police dog during an early morning raid.

Police were searching for the boy’s father, Brian Snowden, a murder suspect, when they raided the 20th Bay Street home around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, a Norfolk police spokesman said.

“Several verbal commands were given for the occupants, if any, to come forward before the dog was released,” police spokesman Chris Amos said.

Amos did not know how much time elapsed between those commands and when the dog was unleashed.

The dog went into the child’s bedroom and began biting him on the face and neck.

Amos says as soon as the officer heard the child screaming, he ordered the dog to let go.

Three other adults in the house complied with orders and were not hurt.

Police did not find Snowden.

Family took the child to Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, where he was treated for bites and bruises, according to child’s aunt.

The family has hired a lawyer.