Ontario’s police watchdog has charged a St. Thomas police dog handler with assault causing bodily harm in the injury of a man who was arrested.
Officers tried to stop a 29-year-old man who was wanted on several arrest warrants on Sept. 1, but the man sped away on a bike, St. Thomas police said Thursday.
The suspect eventually ditched the bike and took off running before the officers arrested him, police said.
The man was injured during the arrest and police notified the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), said police, who didn’t provide any additional details on how the man was injured.
The SIU charged Const. Sean James with assault causing bodily harm. James remains on active duty as a canine handler, police said.
“It remains our practice to be as transparent as possible with the public, having regard to the sensitivity of investigations and the limits placed upon us in releasing information in certain circumstances,” police said in a statement.
The St. Thomas canine unit was formed in 2013, when James began working with Trax, a pure-bred German shepherd. A medical condition forced Trax into early retirement in 2017 and James adopted the dog, according to a history of the unit on the St. Thomas police website.
“Although the entire service was devastated to see Trax go, everyone was reassured knowing he would be adopted by his handler PC James. To this day he lives a very spoiled life as a beloved house pet enjoying much love and man,” the history said.
James began working with a new dog, a Belgian Malinois named Axle, conducting searches, collecting evidence, pursuing suspects and searching for missing persons.
“Sean and Axle are very active in the community attending public events, schools and providing presentations,” the website said.
The watchdog’s charge against James comes less than a week after the SIU launched an investigation into the custody injury of a break-in suspect who was bit by a London police dog while fleeing from police.
The SIU investigates all cases of serious injury, death, police-involved shootings and allegations of sexual assault involving officers.