Did you hear the one where the police dog was literally chewing on the arm of a guy, and when the guy tried to escape from the dog he was charged and convicted with assaulting a police officer. The dog being the police officer.
Firstly, please site at least a news article on the case.
Also under the law, a police dog is an officer, an army dog is a soldier, a search and rescue dog is typically a fireman. Also, depending on the US state, and if it's in any other western country, animals have rights and injuring a dog is a criminal act, and when it's owned by a cop you can be sure as hell you'll be charged with animal abuse. If you're lucky, you won't be charged with both and won't be sued civilly by the officer in question for damaging property.
IMHO when a German Shepherd latches onto your arm and is attempting to force you to the ground, you do as it says. Also when there's a half-dozen cops (usually 1 for the dog team, and 2-4 cops called in for suspected drug possessions) shouting "Stay down, stay down! DO NOT FIGHT THE DOG!" then you do what they say.
Fighting the dog only does 1 of 2 things. 1st it angers the dog, which will mean it clamps down harder and will likely mean it breaks the skin (which it is trained not to do), which means any attempt to remove your arm can literally shred the muscle from your bone. 2nd if you're lucky and get free with your arm intact, running turns that highly trained dog into nothing more than a wolf, it will no longer bite your arm or try to pin you down, when it gets you it's likely to be going for the throat to kill you.
There can be no automatic presumption of a rational response to entirely measured and legitimate and carefully orchestrated police activities.
Even otherwise peaceful and rational and law-abiding folks that happen to become involved in an altercation with police or that are physically restrained by police can and sometimes will fight with an officer or with a police dog with absolutely everything they're worth, and fight well past the point of personal injury.
There's no automatic presumption of rationality here. There's no reasoning here. Fight or flight is one of the most basic and powerful human instincts. And sufficiently fearful folks can and sometimes do become feral.
This based on over twenty years experience providing emergency medical services on the streets; of working directly with the some of the best-trained police and police dogs, and with the public, and with the aftermath of the occasional collisions among all these folks.
You appear to be asserting that it's unlikely this has ever happened because no reasonable, thoughtful person being attacked by a dog would, upon careful consideration, panic and struggle instinctively to get away from the dog.
This is fine rational for a forum post. But as tc points out, few have any experience being "handled" by law enforcement and react with primitive defense. I love dogs and don't show fear around a clearly well-trained police dog. But I've never had one take me down either and have no idea how I'd react.
I think the underlying point of his comment was that it was silly to consider the dog an officer...having a silly idea enshrined in law doesn't make it less silly.
