Video and 911 audio released in Lafayette police dog mauling

Authorities have released additional police video footage and 911 audio in the May arrest of a Black northwestern Indiana man who was mauled by a police dog while being arrested for suspected battery.

A special prosecutor and the state police are investigating allegations that three Lafayette police officers used excessive force when arresting Richard Bailey Jr., who was seriously injured.

Bailey’s lawyers previously released some police video of the dog attack and the moments leading up to it in which officers tell Bailey to get off a moped and warn him that they will use a K-9 unit if he doesn’t comply.

“We have prepared this video in response to public concern and media representation that do not include all the facts and circumstances,” Chief Patrick Flannelly said in a video preceding the newly released footage.

In the 911 audio, a caller alleges that a man who had been drinking attacked three people before leaving on a moped. The newly released police footage shows an officer remark to Bailey he’s “clearly intoxicated” after Bailey seems to have trouble speaking and stopping the moped.

Bailey’s attorneys called the use of the dog, which mauled Bailey’s neck for 30 seconds, “extraordinarily violent” and said the three white officers used excessive force because Bailey is Black, according to the Journal & Courier of Lafayette, which posted the video. They said the 46-year-old Bailey spent days in a medically induced coma after the attack and could have died. https://www.jconline.com/story/news/crime/2020/07/25/lafayette-police-chief-makes-video-k-9-biting-mans-neck/5512058002/

Attorneys Swaray Conteh and Fatima Johnson told the newspaper that the 911 call doesn’t offer a complete story of what happened in the house before police arrived.

“What the 911 tape failed to mention is that Mr. Bailey was attacked with a knife, had a gun pointed at him, and yet still managed to inflict less damage to his attackers than the police did to him,” said Elayne Rivers, a spokeswoman for Johnson’s law firm.

Police have called the allegations against the department baseless.

“We will not provide commentary on specific investigative activities, only those that guide our officers’ actions in response to resistance,” Flannelly said, citing an ongoing investigation.

IMadison County Deputy Prosecutor Mary Hutchison was appointed special prosecutor on June 11 to investigate the incident after Tippecanoe County’s prosecutor sought a special prosecutor.

Hutchison, who will determine whether the officers committed any crimes in their arrest of Richard Bailey Jr., said Thursday she had asked state police to also investigate “the allegations surrounding this incident.”

“My goal is to collect and examine the evidence in as sterile an environment as possible, which I will strive to do throughout this investigation,” she said in the statement.

Lafayette police have said Bailey was suspected of shoving two people and choking a third person when he was arrested May 9. He was attacked by a police dog released by one of the officers after they pulled Bailey from a moped he was sitting on.

Bailey’s attorney said he spent six days in a medically induced coma after that attack and that they may file a lawsuit against the city and police.