Five police officers mauled by crazed dog as they raid suspect's home - and it took four shots to finally kill it

By CHRIS GREENWOOD and NICK MCDERMOTT

Savage: Mobile phone footage shows a Met Police officer having to to take evasive action on a wall, while another is set upon by the crazed animal

Five policemen were in hospital last night after being savaged by a dog as they hunted a suspected violent kidnapper.
The officers were said to have ‘life-changing’ wounds as serious as those seen after a shootout.
One officer had his arm broken between the animal’s jaws, while others had chunks of flesh torn from their legs and arms. Some will require plastic surgery, and one could lose several fingers.
A police marksman brought the carnage to an end when he blasted the dog four times with a shotgun after it was cornered in the street.

Under attack: The officer continues to struggle against the violent dog as his colleague can do nothing but look on in terror

Neighbours revealed they had reported the animal, described as a brown dobermann/pitbull cross called Poison, to the council several times.
They said it was responsible for other attacks, including one in which a builder was pulled from his bicycle and mauled so badly ‘it looked like he was being eaten alive’.

Lashing out: A stunned local resident in East London perches on a wall as two police officers are savaged by the animal yards away

Police chiefs suspect criminals and gang members are deliberately breeding vicious animals as weapons.
The attack took place on a residential street in Stratford, east London, where patches of dried blood remain visible along a 30ft stretch of the road.
Witnesses said the dog ran free after a team searching a man wanted for grievous bodily harm and kidnap broke down the door of a terraced house.
Mobile phone footage taken by a passer-by shows the animal pouncing on one policeman and biting his arm.

Crazed: Armed police had to shoot the animal four times before it was finally dead

At one point, it clamps its jaws so tightly around the man’s limb that it is lifted off the ground when he tries to shake it off.
A colleague is seen climbing on to a wall to escape the animal.
The dog was finally cornered by a dozen officers who arrived from a nearby station armed with riot shields.
Colleagues from the Metropolitan Police’s CO19 armed unit then arrived and shot it.

Battle: Officers who eventually restrained the dog had to shoot it four times before it finally gave in

‘They have suffered some really nasty injuries; broken bones, gashes that will need dozens of stitches and even plastic surgery,’ he said.
‘The injuries are as bad as being shot. It has taken out huge chunks of flesh.’
All five were said to be in a stable condition at the Royal London Hospital last night.
The Met said a 25-year-old man arrested at the scene was being questioned over the attack.
Newham Council confirmed it had investigated a complaint that the dog had attacked a cyclist last April, and said the case was discussed with police in June.
An inquiry is under way to establish why officers did not know the dog was in the property.

Blood-stained: Officers guard the scene where earlier five police constables were savaged while executing a raid



source: dailymail