“Check his pulse. Make sure he ain’t faking it." White Riviera Beach Cop Suspended 3 Days for Committing Felony Assault on Surrendering Black Man by Turning his K-9 Loose on Him

White Cop Was Unsure if Black People were Affected the Same Way by Dog Bites. From [HERE] A police officer in Riviera Beach was suspended after an arrest he made with his K-9 was ruled to be excessive force.

Officer John Vanderlaan was suspended for 84 hours after an Internal Affairs investigation ruled he did not follow proper procedures.

Vanderlaan was also required to undergo 40 hours of additional K-9 training before he was allowed to be reinstated.

The Internal Affairs investigation was launched after an October incident where Vanderlaan and his K-9 were chasing a suspect in a hit-and-run.

WPBF 25 News has obtained Officer Vanderlaan’s bodycam video of the incident.

The video shows the officer and K-9 tracking down a young Black man who is sitting on top of an awning attached to a building near the intersection of Blue Heron Boulevard and Avenue O.

“Get on the ground!” Vanderlaan repeatedly yells at the Black man as the K-9 can be heard barking.

He tells the officer he wants to surrender but is afraid of the dog. “Just don’t bite me!” the suspect is heard yelling. “Get the dog! Please just get the dog!”

The suspect is not identified in the Internal Affairs report.

After about three minutes of the officer yelling for the suspect to come down and the suspect yelling for the officer to control the dog, Officer Vanderlaan reaches up through the awning and pulls the suspect down by his legs.

As soon as the suspect hits the ground, the K-9 is on him.

The suspect can be heard screaming as the K-9 bites him repeatedly.

The suspect eventually passes out.

“Check his pulse. Make sure he ain’t faking it,” Vanderlaan can be heard saying.

The Internal Affairs report contains photographs of multiple wounds on the suspect’s arm and back.

Vanderlaan told the Internal Affairs investigator that he heard the suspect saying he wanted to surrender but he wasn’t sure if the suspect was bluffing.

He said he also wasn’t sure if the suspect had a weapon.

Officer Vanderlaan, however, also admitted he made a mistake by allowing his K-9 to bite the suspect.

He said the suspect was clearly not resisting and therefore the K-9 should have been kept at a distance.