A 22-month-old girl was bitten by a police dog inside her San Jose home last week as officers searched for a wanted felon.
In what police are calling an accident, Arabella has a bandaged wound after a San Jose police K-9 jumped on her and bit her during the course of an arrest warrant being served Friday, police said.
Officers were at the home on Bird Avenue to arrest a wanted felon, and they said several people in the home were not cooperating. Then they spotted the suspect running out of the house. When he wouldn’t surrender and went back inside, they brought in a K-9.
Police admitted the dog jumped up and bit the toddler while she was sitting on a couch.
"The dog came inside, and the first thing the dog did was he just bit my daughter," said Isamar Pena, Arabella's mother. "And I was just screaming, telling him, 'Oh my god, the dog just bit my daughter.' She was in a lot of pain. She was just screaming and crying and she kept calling for my name."
Police said it was an accident and unusual. The K-9 was tested in training again Wednesday.
The family filed a complaint with the San Jose Police Department and is considering a lawsuit.
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"I'm seeking justice," Pena said. "I just want the officers to train their dogs right and to be able to control them."
Police don't know when the dog will return to service.
