A Davis County Sheriff’s Office corporal was charged Thursday with beating his K9 “Rolf” after the dog urinated inside a building during a training this summer.
Timothy Robinson and Rolf were attending a county-wide training Aug. 15 when Rolf urinated in a conference room, according to charging documents filed in 2nd District Court.
Two other officers said they saw Robinson’s response. One said Robinson “aggressively” pulled the dog’s leash and pulled him down a set of stairs while striking him “hard” five to ten times as the dog cowered.
The other said Robinson gave the dog a verbal correction and then dragged it out of the room, punching it with a closed fist.
“Both officers stated that this is not in accordance with their training,” charges read.
The detective investigating the case also consulted with Peace Officer Standards and Training, the organization responsible for mandating the state’s law enforcement training and professional standards. The group confirmed that striking a K9 is not taught or allowed by their organization.
An outside police K9 expert told the detective that officers may strike a service dog, but only to protect a handler or another person — “never as a corrective measure.”
“He explained that to strike a dog as a response to urination is unreasonable, even once,” charges state.
Davis County Sheriff Kelly V. Sparks said in a written statement that Rolf had been working with the sheriff’s office for three years and that he has been reassigned to a new handler.
“Immediately following the accusations, our priority was to ensure that Rolf was safe,” Sparks said. “We hold our law enforcement officers to a higher standard, and news of this alleged incident has caused much distress to our office and our K9 program.”
He said the office’s priority is giving Rolf the “opportunity to thrive with a new handler.”
Robinson, who’s worked with the office for 10 years, has been placed on administrative leave. The office is conducting an internal investigation, and Bountiful Police Department investigated the criminal case.
Robinson is facing a charge of striking or assaulting a police service animal, a class A misdemeanor offense. Court dates have not yet been scheduled.
