Courtesy of the Journal and Courier
Fonske (pictured) was shot dead after he bit the hand of Officer Jeffrey Dunscomb, left.


CURT SLYDER and JOE GERRETY
Courtesy of the Journal and Courier

West Lafayette, Indiana-- A West Lafayette police officer attacked by his own canine Friday had been attacked by the dog before.

Tippecanoe County Sheriff Smokey Anderson shot and killed Fonske while the dog attacked Officer Jeff Dunscomb for no apparent reason during a bank robbery investigation in Battle Ground on Friday. Dunscomb yelled for Anderson to shoot the dog after it would not release him.

"For whatever reason that day, he had major aggression problems," Dunscomb said Monday night. "It's extremely, extremely rare for that to happen."

But according to city records, Fonske attacked Dunscomb on at least two other occasions -- one time in 2005, the other in April. One bite happened in training, while the other happened when Dunscomb was playing fetch with the dog, Dunscomb said.

In the April incident, Dunscomb suffered a broken arm.

Dunscomb said he was attempting to put flea drops on the dog during the April attack.

"We just kind of chalked it up to a self-defense mechanism for the dog," Dunscomb said. "It was just a real quick thing. It only lasted maybe 20 seconds or so and he came right off of me and came back over and tried to make friends."

The injuries from Friday's attack were less serious, Dunscomb said. He has several deep cuts and puncture wounds to both hands, but no broken bones or tendon damage.

Dunscomb said he plans to return to work Wednesday, and one of his first orders of business will be looking into replacing Fonske.

"We're checking with the insurance company now to see what kind of coverage we had on the dog," Dunscomb said.

It likely will cost about $12,000 to buy and train a new dog, plus five to six weeks of Dunscomb's time training with the new canine.

Fonske underwent a necropsy -- an animal's form of an autopsy -- at Purdue University's Animal Diagnostic and Disease Center. It could take up to two weeks to get results, according to Capt. Mike Francis of WLPD.

A 4 1/2-year-old Belgian malinois, Fonske was born and initially trained in Holland, where he learned obedience, tracking and bite work, the police department's Web site said.

Kennels of Denver, Ind., where he learned to detect drugs. He had been Dunscomb's partner for 2 1/2 years.

During that time, Dunscomb said, Fonske had been responsible for numerous drug seizures and had apprehended about 25 criminal suspects.

The executive director for the United States Police Canine Association was surprised at what happened.

"I've never heard of an incident where a dog had to be shot to get it off its handler," Russ Hess said.

Hess thinks something may have been wrong with Fonske, noting dogs can have mental issues and medical issues that might affect how they behave. Dunscomb has the same suspicion.

He said he's relieved the dog focused its aggression on its handler rather than one of the 20 to 25 civilians milling around the area of the robbery investigation.

"The fortunate thing is that I'm the one that got bit -- not another police officer or anyone else standing out there," Dunscomb said.

Republished with permission of the Journal and Courier

Originally Posted by SOT_II They should have put the dog down when it broke the guys arm.