Ohio K9 officer placed on leave after video appears to show police dog attacking man lying on his stomach

An Ohio police dog is under investigation after a police body camera caught his dog apparently attacking a man lying on his stomach with his hands behind his back, authorities said Friday.

The officer, Nicholas Casto, has been placed on leave pending an investigation into Thursday’s incident north of downtown Canton, a Canton, Ohio, police spokesman said in a brief statement.

“I take these incidents very seriously,” Canton Mayor Christian Turner said in a separate statement Friday. “I understand the public will have questions, and I will ensure my office provides information as soon as it is available.”

The incident occurred after a traffic stop when authorities found an open bottle of alcohol in a car that had been stopped for “making an abrupt turn” and hitting a curb, according to a police investigation report.

During a search, officers found a gun under a car seat and handcuffed the driver and a passenger, the report said. A crowd gathered in the area where the stop took place and began to fight with officers, the report said, and were asked to leave the area.

The report states that two men in the crowd allegedly threatened a police dog on site. Casto, the dog’s handler, said one of the men had been given sufficient warning and should be arrested.

Casto’s body camera captured the man appearing to address the animal, but it’s not clear what he’s saying. Casto can be heard saying he’s “about to put handcuffs on this guy.”

“Tell that dog something else,” Casto can be heard saying in the video as he approaches the man standing next to children in the front yard of a house.

“Go inside or you’re going to jail,” a police officer can be heard saying, just before Casto explains that the man was arrested for teasing the dog.

As the video shows, the officers approached the man and apparently handcuffed him or attempted to do so. The author of the investigative report, who was at the scene, wrote that he saw the man immediately resist as the officers approached.

The video shows three police officers bringing the man to the ground. As the man lies on his stomach with his arms crossed, Casto can be seen approaching him and the dog repeatedly snaps at the man’s arms.

The video shows that as people in the crowd scream, a police officer orders the man to stop resisting.

The dog appeared to grab the man’s arm, but the video shows no blood. After Casto pulled the animal away from the man, another officer is seen handcuffing him and leading him to a police vehicle.

“Good boy,” Casto is heard saying to the dog.

Four people were arrested at the scene, including the two men involved in the traffic stop and two from the crowd. The latter were arrested on suspicion of disturbing the peace, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, according to the report.

One of the men is also charged with assaulting a police officer. The other is accused of threatening a police dog, the report said.

A message left at a phone number listed for Casto was not immediately returned. The local police union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.