Rantz: Alleged wife abuser mad Sheriff’s K9 bit him, looks for King County payday
Jan 8, 2020, 6:00 AM | Updated: 6:41 am
(King County Sheriff's Office, Facebook)
A man was bitten severely by a K9 after hiding from King County Sheriff’s Deputies, who were called to the home to protect his wife from his alleged domestic abuse. Now, he’s looking for a payday.
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The incident happened in Enumclaw back in 2016, and now there’s a pending lawsuit alleging the accused wife abuser, Urbano Velazquez, can’t work as a farmer anymore due to a debilitating dog bite.
The man’s wife called 911 to report he had drunkenly pulled her hair and had access to a knife. She was concerned his violence would escalate. King County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived, including a K9 unit. The man apparently hid in a crawl space beneath the house. The K9, named Lucky, alerted officers that someone was in the space.
Once they made contact, deputies say Velazquez wouldn’t show them his hands and they thought he had a knife, as reported to them we believe by either the 911 dispatcher or the wife. Velazquez disputes this and say he was cooperative.
Either way, he ended up getting bitten by the K9. The bites were severe, a photo of which can be found here — and comes with a graphic warning. Now, Velazquez wants $2 million because, surely as a farm laborer, we’re pretending his work is worth that sum.
Assuming it’s the word of a deputy versus the word of a man accused of abusing his wife, must we really take this seriously?
Though it’s certainly possible the deputy didn’t follow protocol, I’m going to trust the KCSO over a guy who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of a domestic violence situation. He was hiding from them. That’s not exactly how innocent people act, and my assumption is the deputy didn’t immediately have Lucky engage in the suspect.
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But I’d rather the dog go into a crawl space than the deputy. And I’m assuming a good reason the bite wound was so severe is because when a dog bites you, you thrash around. When potentially drunk, you might thrash around even more, not feeling the pain the same way you would otherwise. K9’s are trained to bite and hold, not tear your arms to shreds.
Velazquez is in this position, it appears, because of his own poor, dangerous decisions. Call me crazy, but one way not to be bitten by a K9 unit is to not abuse your wife and have it called to begin with.
Unfortunately, because of the nature of these kinds of lawsuits, they’re settled to avoid the costs and he’ll end up getting money. All after he allegedly abused his wife and hid from deputies. Who said crime doesn’t pay?
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