Man bites K-9 officer at LAX
A transient faced felony battery charges Sunday afternoon after he allegedly bit a Los Angeles Airport police officer and injured one of his colleagues, authorities said.
The name of the man was not immediately released, but LAX police officials said the incident took place about 11:15 a.m. Sunday on the upper level of the airport, just outside the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
Airport police officials said they received a report that a man had left an unattended bag in the terminal and was seen muttering to himself. When officers approached the man, he sprinted away while yelling unintelligibly. The officers caught up to him outside the terminal and when they tried to detain him, he bit a K-9 officer in the left forearm, officials said. A second officer received cuts and scratches.
The transient, who had been stopped at LAX previously, was taken into custody without further incident.
"With 50,000 airport employees and roughly 61 million passengers annually, LAX police face the same challenges and dangers as those in most municipal law enforcement agencies," said Marshall McClain, president of the union representing 425 police officers and firefighters at all Los Angeles city-run airports.
-- Andrew Blankstein
The name of the man was not immediately released, but LAX police officials said the incident took place about 11:15 a.m. Sunday on the upper level of the airport, just outside the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
Airport police officials said they received a report that a man had left an unattended bag in the terminal and was seen muttering to himself. When officers approached the man, he sprinted away while yelling unintelligibly. The officers caught up to him outside the terminal and when they tried to detain him, he bit a K-9 officer in the left forearm, officials said. A second officer received cuts and scratches.
The transient, who had been stopped at LAX previously, was taken into custody without further incident.
"With 50,000 airport employees and roughly 61 million passengers annually, LAX police face the same challenges and dangers as those in most municipal law enforcement agencies," said Marshall McClain, president of the union representing 425 police officers and firefighters at all Los Angeles city-run airports.
-- Andrew Blankstein
EDITOR'S PICKS:
I guess this story, with the right headline, comes so close to the holy grail of journalism that it had to be printed...
Posted by: spatter | April 19, 2010 at 07:43 AM
The Police spend a lot of time dealing with mentally disturbed people/transients on a daily basis. This officer probably has to get some shots to prevent his arm from becoming infected.
Posted by: Rick | April 19, 2010 at 10:02 AM
Sounds like the beginning to a zombie movie!
Posted by: rs | April 19, 2010 at 03:02 PM
I hope the dog was ok. Who bites a dog?
Posted by: John | April 19, 2010 at 03:31 PM
How can this guy bite a police officer on the arm, but not have his head bashed in with a police flashlight...I think they need to train this new breed of police officers some basic self defense techniques...
Posted by: TheBigPicture | April 19, 2010 at 05:01 PM