Photo: Getty Images
A Denison, Texas officer ordered a police dog to attack an unarmed Black man in front of his nine-year-old son during a traffic stop, according to body camera footage obtained by HuffPost.
Derrick Dunlap, 54, was pulled over in May 2023 because the light over his license plate was allegedly too dim, according to police. Dunlap was accompanied by his son as an officer, identified as Tyler Buchanan, got out of his police car and ordered a dog to attack.
"Here, here, here," the officer said as Dunlap's child screamed, per body camera footage.
Video shows the dog repeatedly biting an unarmed Dunlap while he's in a grassy area with his hands up. The officer then approached Dunlap, shouting "Give me your hands."
In the video, police grabbed Dunlap's arm, pulling him to the ground as the dog continued to attack him.
“Why did you tell him to bite me?” Dunlap repeatedly asked the officer.
“Give me your f**king hand, man,” Buchanan told the father as he screamed in pain.
"Oh, my God, you are doing this in front of my son,” Dunlap said.
At one point during the video, the man's son asked the officer not to kill his father.
“I’m not going to kill him, just get back,” Buchanan said.
Dunlap was taken to a hospital where he was treated for injuries he sustained from the attack, including bite marks.
Dunlap filed a lawsuit against Buchanan in December. The Denison Police Department never addressed the incident publicly.
“Tyler Buchanan betrayed his badge and the code of ethics and should be held fully accountable for his wrongful acts,” civil rights attorney Daryl Washington said in a statement.“What Tyler Buchanan did to Derrick was demeaning and flat-out hateful.”
Watch the video here.
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