An Ontario Provincial Police dog handler has been cleared of any wrongdoing after a woman was bit during the execution of a search warrant at a suspected marijuana grow-op in Leamington.
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that the dog handler committed a criminal offence in connection with a woman’s head injury.
On November 18 of 2020, police executed a search warrant at a rural property that consisted of large greenhouses and a number of outbuildings, including a bunkhouse, and was believed to house a commercial-size illegal marijuana grow operation.
A police dog being used to search of the property located a 41-year-old woman, who had been hiding in a bedroom closet, and latched on to her scalp.
The woman suffered a large laceration to the top right side of her scalp and was taken to hospital where she underwent plastic surgery.
Director Martino found he was unable to reasonably conclude that the police dog handler transgressed the limits of care prescribed by criminal law.