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K-9 police dog Hemi. At Heister Lanes in Reading Friday evening Jan 27, 2017 for the Bark n' Bowl event held to raise money for the Reading Police department K-9 unit. Photo by Ben Hasty

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New details have emerged in the case of Talmika Bates, a Black woman who was viciously attacked by a police canine after she was accused of shoplifting in Feb. 2020.  The young women’s scalp was reportedly torn off by the search dog during her tussle with authorities from the Brentwood Police Department in California prior to her arrest.

This week, Police body footage of the harrowing incident was released to the public. The video shows Bates crying for help as police struggle to detain her in a wooded area.

“The dog is biting me!”  Bates shouts in the graphic video. Another clip shows the woman crying and screaming to her mother on the phone:

“Mama, my whole brain is bleeding, mama,” she says.

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Bates admitted to shoplifting from the Brentwood Ulta Beauty store on Feb. 10, 2020, according to ABC7.  Security camera footage obtained by the news outlet shows Bates and two other suspects stealing loads of perfume from the store. The report claimed that the trio stole nearly $10,000 worth of products. After fleeing the scene, the young woman, who claimed she was “trying to make a way” by stealing the items, got into a high-speed chase with police, shortly before she and her accomplices ditched the car to escape. Eventually, authorities and the search dog found Bates hiding in a nearby bush. That’s when the vicious attack occurred.

“I just feel something attacking me, like paws on my back, then I start feeling rips from the scalp here, here, here and teeth grinding,” Bates told ABC7 during an interview. “I thought I was going to die, I really did,” she continued. “No warning, no come out with your hands up, that would have been better for me, take me to jail.”

The Brentwood Police Officers Association released a statement about Bates’ arrest, noting that their use of the police canine was legal and within the standard protocol. According to Officer Rezentes, who was in control of the search dog during the arrest, canines are often used to help search for potentially armed suspects in wooded areas where it may be easy to hide. The canine, whose name is Marco, was allegedly following police orders as trained.

“When Marco locates the source of human odor and if he comes into contact with the subject, he is trained to bite the first portion of the body he contacts with or without a command. Marco will hold that suspect until I release him, ” Rezentes wrote. “The search command was the only command given, which is standard from my training and experience for an open area search.”

The police official added:

“A police canine warning was not given because I had no indication there were any suspects in the area.”

Thankfully, surgeons were able to reattach Bates’s scalp, but she still has a long road ahead in terms of recovery. She said the tumultuous incident has caused her to have “nightmares, memory loss, and depression.”

“I want the dog to be laid down, I want him to be fired, I want justice,” Bates said. She also plans on suing the officer and the city for the incident.

 

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