Saturday, May 12, 2007

£42,000 payout for boy bitten by police dog after street battle

A teenager has been awarded £42,500 in compensation after he was bitten by a police dog called Bruce while involved in a knife brawl.

The 14-year-old was bitten on the ear by the dog as officers tried to break up the fight.

But after threatening legal action against police, the youth - who cannot be named - was awarded the sum in an out-of-court settlement. The payment has been condemned as "utterly perverse".

It is feared the damages, thought to be Britain's largest ever payout for a dog bite, could open the floodgates to countless other claims against police dogs.

After the incident, Sussex Police decided to put Bruce down by lethal injection, saying he had "strayed from his training".

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