By the Daily Post staff
The city of Palo Alto tonight (April 5) released additional video of the June 25 police dog attack of a man who was mistaken for a kidnapper.
Link to new video.
The Post filed a request for the video on Feb. 2 under a new law that requires the city to release police body-cam video in certain circumstances. The first video police released on March 16 was edited, so the newspaper asked for the rest of the video.
Tonight, while the City Council was talking about the dog attack and other police issues with Police Chief Robert Jonsen, the city sent an email to the Post with a link to the additional footage.
The first 2 minutes and 15 seconds of the video is from the body cam of Officer Ian Johnson. Then, from 2:15 to 8:10 video from the dog’s handler, Agent Nick Enberg, is shown. From 8:10 to 10:20, the video goes back to Johnson’s body cam.
At about 2:30 in the video, the attack happens with Enberg repeatedly commanding the dog to “Dirsh,” Czechoslovakian for “bite.”
The attack happened on June 25 at about 2:30 a.m. when Mountain View police were searching for a kidnapper in the 1900 block of Elsie Ave. Mountain View asked Palo Alto for the use of one of its canine teams, a dog and an officer trained to handle the dog. Police searched nearby homes, including at least two others in the 1800 block of Elsie.
According to a Mountain View police report released to the Post, officers found a 2006 gray Honda Civic nearby a house in the 1800 block of Elsie Ave. in Mountain View with mail belonging to the kidnapping victim inside, which led them to suspect the kidnapper was there. After getting permission from a resident in the home, who turned out to be the victim’s niece, they found Joel Domingo Alejo, 29, asleep in the backyard.
Not only does the video show the attack but also an officer helping a badly bruised and stunned Alejo after the attack. Alejo was not suspected of any crime. His attorney has filed a claim for $20 million from the cities of Palo Alto and Mountain View.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office said it will not press charges against any of the officers involved in the dog attack.
Mountain View Police have also released body-cam videos from their officers.
If police believe in transparency, why would they withhold this video so long? Thank you, Daily Post, for persevering in getting this video released. Without it, we wouldn’t really know how severe the attack on Mr. Alejo was.