Bodycam footage of police dog mauling Black man released

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In July 2018, an innocent Black man, Joseph Lee Pettaway, was mauled by a patrol dog.

Police allowed their dog to tear apart the body of the 51-year-old Black man after he was mistaken for a burglar.

This week, the family secured the body camera footage of the incident after filing a subpoena.

The family also wants some of the footage “to be publicly entered into evidence, fighting the ‘confidential’ designation of the video,” according to Revolt TV.

Read More: Bodycam video shows Utah police shooting 13-year-old boy

The incident, which happened in Montgomery, Alabama, occurred after someone called the police on Pettaway, and his sister, Yvonne Pettaway- Frazie. The two were on their way to their mother’s house.

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Pettaway- Frazie told the Montgomery Advertiser. “His flesh was all on the ground that morning.” The family filed a lawsuit to get justice.

Documents stated that officer Nicholas Barber, the dog’s handler, stood there and watched for nearly two minutes as the dog tore up Pettaway’s flesh.

“Despite Mr Pettaway’s obvious and profuse bleeding and his apparently going into shock, no policeman examines or evaluates (Pettaway’s) wound and no policeman administers any of the most basic, essential, obvious and immediately required care to stem or reduce his bleeding,” documents read, according to Metro.

Police in Montgomery, AL set a police dog loose on Joseph Pettaway, who later bled to death from a laceration. At the scene, one officer said "Fuck yea" when another asked him if the dog had bitten Pettaway—now the family is fighting for bodycam footage.https://t.co/Zm0HIvVdtw

— Ethan Brown (@ethanbrown72) October 2, 2020

Another officer allegedly asked Barber if Pettaway “got a bite,” and Barber replied “f**k yeah.” 

Despite him getting badly injured by their K-9, the document also reports that many police officers on site failed to provide first aid to Pettaway. It was even reported that officer Barber joked around with fellow officers and took pictures of Pettaway’s dead body. 

Read More: Judge orders release of bodycam video in George Floyd case

Lizzie Mae Pettaway, Pettaway’s 87-year-old mother, wants justice. 

“They stood up there and let the dog kill him,” she said. “They need to pay for what they did. If someone had killed the dog, they’d have made them pay for it. They stand out there and hold a conversation after letting the dog chew him like a piece of meat, watching him bleed to death.”

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