A North Carolina cop was cleared of all wrongdoing by a grand jury yesterday--even after a video showed him pushing a K-9 unit dog into a suspect’s car. The dog then mauled the suspect, who had to get stitches on his face and shoulders.
As Gawker's Adam Weinstein notes, the incident occurred on Halloween. Johnnie Williams blew past a DWI checkpoint, causing the police to chase him. Officer Stafford Brister hit Williams head-on with his police car. Then, after Williams threw up his hands in a surrender gesture, Brister threw his police dog into the car. “Sometimes the job we do is not pretty,” the chief of the Wilmington, North Carolina police department told WECT.
Other police officers had to pull the dog off Williams before the animal could do any more damage. Brister, who faced a misdemeanor count of assault, was put on leave with pay. An internal review continues while Brister remains on leave with pay.
But the grand jury thinks Brister is innocent. Williams was convicted, though, on a number of charges.
