AN Aspendale man being chase near Peninsula Link allegedly punched and kicked a police dog before it bit him on the right shoulder and face.
The man, 26, appeared at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Monday (3 April) on 30 charges: four of aggravated burglary, three of theft of a motor car, theft, handling stolen property, evading police and resisting arrest after a series of weekend incidents.
Another charge relates to aggravated cruelty to an animal – the police dog. The man was remanded to reappear at the same court on Tuesday 9 May.
Police allege the man entered a Marvin Av, Rye, house through an unlocked back door, 2.30am, Saturday 1 April, but ran off over the back fence empty handed when the owner awoke to a noise and the glow of a torch.
Sergeant Michael Lamb, of Frankston police, said patrols of the area came across a car stolen from Hampton the previous day and later used in a petrol drive-off. They believe this was the car the man used to drive to Rye.
A black Jeep then sped past them and a check of the registration found that it, too, had been stolen but from the immediate area. The car was followed by the Air Wing onto Peninsula Link where the man was seen leaping out and running away.
He was spotted from above hiding among trees with the Canine Unit and uniform police giving chase. After the police dog brought the man down he was taken to Frankston Hospital for treatment.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 5 April 2017