Vancouver police dog that bit bystander is retired early

The Vancouver police dog that attacked a bystander during a downtown arrest in late September has been retired early.

Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said in an email that Doc was placed into remedial training following the Sept. 22 incident. However, Kapp said, Doc did not respond to the training to meet the police department’s K-9 Unit standards.

“The decision was made to retire Doc from the K-9 program,” Kapp said.

The police department is continuing its internal investigation into the incident, in which Doc darted across the street and attacked a man on the sidewalk.

A 54-second cellphone video widely circulated on social media captured the moment at the corner of West 13th and Columbia streets. While a man is handcuffed and led to a police car, the leashed dog in a nearby parking lot appears to escape the handler’s grasp, bolt across the street, and bite and tug on a man standing on the sidewalk.

The original call was a response to a reported disturbance and harassment between a male and female, the police department said at the time. The man who was bitten was not involved in the incident and was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Doc’s handler, Officer Christopher Douville, remains at the police department’s west precinct as a patrol officer, albeit without a canine partner.

Doc is living with another handler until the department finds him a permanent home, Kapp said.

The police department plans to replace Doc and fill a K-9 Unit position internally in the first quarter of 2020.