This Is What Is Needed – Fightback Against Police Lies

Steve Bennett used a plank of wood to get a Japanese Akita dog off Yusuf Mayet, after it dragged him to the floor and ripped a chunk out of his arm.

The 11-year-old has been left scarred for life after needing two major surgeries. Police said the attack, near Jessop Park in Batley, was a “freak accident” and the dog had been put down.

But the unfortunate victims aren’t taking this lying down:

But Yusuf’s family and Mr Bennett were outraged by the comments and claimed the dog had attacked neighbours in the same street. Mr Bennett, of Park Croft, Batley, said: “It was like something out of a horror film.

“A dog does not do something like that for it just to be called a freak accident. “We have been told by our neighbours it had gone for people before. The dog was clearly out of control.”

And at the first whiff of bad publicity, the police announce ‘a review’:

Insp Neil Money of the Batley, Birstall and Birkenshaw Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Clearly this incident has caused concern among residents in the local community, as would any incident where a young child is injured.

“As a result, I have asked my officers to review the circumstances of what took place. “As previously stated, the dog in the case was voluntarily destroyed by its owner.”

Well, so what? The fate of the dog is no longer the issue. What’s at stake now is why no arrests have been made, surely?

And the issue is you claiming – as the police so often do – that this was a ‘freak accident’, rather than yet another instance of a known dangerous dog you couldn't be bothered to deal with the first few times:

PC Louise Hurst from Batley NPT said: “The dog was not a dangerous breed and had been well secured and muzzled by his owner on his own property.”

Did it never occur to you, sweetie, that it was a touch unusual for a dog to be kept muzzled on its own property? Did you think it was a cosmetic choice, like those cutesie-poo little glittery jackets they make for lapdogs?