SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City Police Department has released audio of the 911 call made in April that ultimately led to a police K-9 biting a man's leg multiple times.
Jeffery Ryans isthreatening to sue the department over an incident on April 24 when an officer commanded the dog to attack him as he was kneeling down.
On Thursday, SLCPD released audio of the domestic violence 911 call that led to police responding to the home, where the incident took place in the yard.
In the 14-minute call, which can be listened to below in full, one of Ryans' children tells the dispatcher that Ryans was "doing very bad things to our family" including yelling and hitting their mom. The caller also said that Ryans did not live at the home due to a restraining order.
The video also includes 12 minutes of the K-9 handler's body-worn camera footage, some of which had already been shown by Ryans' attorneys.
SLCPD said they were releasing the recordings "in the interest of transparency." SLC Mayor Erin Mendenhall suspended the department's use of K-9s to engage with suspects while they conduct a review of the program's policies and practices.
"We thought it was the order of transparency to release the information that we can," Deputy Chief Jeff Kendrick said. "While the three separate investigations are ongoing, this is information that we can release to the public at this time which kind of paints a picture and provides a little bit better context."
