FARMINGTON, Utah — A K9 handler with the Davis County Sheriff's Office was charged Thursday after allegedly striking or assaulting a department K9 officer.
Cpl. Timothy Robinson faces a Class A misdemeanor following an August incident that occurred during a training exercise. Robinson was seen striking K9 Rolf with other law enforcement officers present during the training.
Court documents detail that the incident was triggered after Rolf began to urinate inside a conference room while at a county-wide K9 training in Kaysville.
Other officers witnessed Robinson pull on Rolf's leash "aggressively," pulling him out of the room and down the stairs while hitting the dog about five to ten times, documents state.
Another witness said they saw Robinson drag Rolf out of the room, "punching Rolf with a closed fist multiple times."
During the investigation, the detective consulted a Utah POST K9 instructor, who said, "striking a police dog is not taught or allowed by POST," an indictment reads in part.
The detective also spoke to a K9 expert who trains and provides police service animals to the county as part of the investigation.
The expert explained that "striking a police service dog may be appropriate to protect the handler or another person, but never as a corrective measure," documents read. "To strike a dog as a response to urination is unreasonable, even once."
After Robinson's actions were reported to sheriff's office officials, Rolf was taken into custody of Animal Care of Davis County for evaluation, while the department said Robinson was immediately relieved of duty and placed on administrative leave.
Although Robinson remains on leave, Rolf has since returned to active duty but with a different handler.
“Immediately following the accusations, our priority was to ensure that Rolf was safe," said Sheriff Kelly V. Sparks. "We hold our law enforcement officers to a higher standard, and news of this alleged incident has caused much distress to our office and our K9 program."
A 10-year veteran of the sheriff's office, Robinson's actions are still be investigated, although the Bountiful Police Department is conducting the investigation to avoid a conflict of interest.
The Davis County Sheriff's Office says its K9 officers are "like any of our deputies, are valued, loved, and respected, and we are deeply saddened by what’s occurred."
