A Mount Maunganui man has had salt poured on his wounds after being attacked by a dog and then threatened by its owners.
The 64-year-old man, who has asked to remain anonymous, had been riding his bike at Blake Park on Maunganui Road at the time of the attack which occurred on Friday, at about 12.30pm.
His daughter, who has also asked to remain anonymous, says her father had ridden past a couple putting their dog into their parked car when the canine jumped out and attacked him.
'It ripped his pants and wounded his right calf. The couple called off their dog and told my dad that it was a naughty dog and was always rough,” the daughter says.
'So my dad asked for their contact details and the guy started verbally abusing my dad, saying it didn't even hurt him.
'My dad rolled his pant leg up and showed them he was bleeding, but the man continued to verbally abuse my dad and then he threatened him.”
Her father felt extremely intimidated by the incident and quickly left the scene, but made sure to record the couple's number plate.
After attending one of the local GP's to have his leg checked over, he went to the Mount Maunganui Police Station and reported both the dog attack and the threats made towards him.
'He gave police the number plate and description of the couple, but it wasn't coming up in their system and they told him they couldn't do anything because of it. They then told dad to contact the Tauranga City Council as it was a civil matter.
'If it had of been a child would it still be that case? My dad lives at home with his 101 year old mother to look after her and is now limping around after her.
'This is stupid and not right in my mind.”
A police spokesperson says dog attacks would usually be dealt with by Animal Control at Tauranga City Council, unless there were serious injuries requiring police involvement.
'Any concerns, particularly any allegations of threat or intimidation should be reported to police directly by the victim.
'Police welcome a follow-up enquiry from the complainant should they wish to do so.”
13 comments
nothing will
Posted on 27-05-2017 16:35 | By Capt_Kaveman
happen anyway me and a work mate both got bitten on the foot but council did not destroy the dog
Muddy
Posted on 27-05-2017 17:17 | By hapukafin
The law appears to be murky like alot of other incidence
Typical!
Posted on 27-05-2017 18:31 | By Mackka
Passing the buck - I am surprised at the police response. The dog and the owner deserve a bullet - heaven help any owner whose dog may bite me or mine!!!!!!!!!!
The Police Officer needs to be censured!
Posted on 28-05-2017 09:56 | By TheCameltoeKid
I really have to wonder how this cop got on the Force and why this person is there. The victim has clearly been attacked and threatened. This is a crime and for this cop to just fob it off is nothing but plain laziness. I hope the victim goes to the Police Complaints Authority and lays a complaint. The fact that the number plate comes up as nothing should trigger alarm bells. It's cops like this that allow crime to fester.
Same old
Posted on 28-05-2017 13:05 | By rastus
The C/Kid is spot on - what the hell has to happen for our police force to take notice - this to me is a blatant example of dereliction of duty.
Too busy with tickets
Posted on 28-05-2017 13:08 | By Mike Kuipers von Lande
Police too busy making money ticketing motorists doing 5km/hr over the speed limit to bother with people being savaged by dogs and threatened by their owners who are driving unregistered or stolen vehicles
Totally unbelievable!
Posted on 28-05-2017 13:45 | By A.Campbell
I agree, the victim here needs to lay a complaint with Police complaints Authority, and don't ignore or fob it off, the behaviour by some Police is shocking, I saw an innocent young guy who was in town recently with mates and some random guys started abusing him etc and Police got involved and arrested the victim because he was standing up to himself, the cop was supposed to be training a new woman recruit, think its just a power and control game to some of these police?
Same type of episode different cop - small town - good results.
Posted on 28-05-2017 15:13 | By Dide
My 87 year old dad was attacked by a dog in a very similar situation. The dog had him on the ground. His little Westie raced in and took the attack in his hind quarter and saved Dad from having his throat torn away. The other dog owner was negligent on arriving home in his car and going inside, leaving his dog out on it's own but did not act abusive when he can out hearing the commotion and did assist my Dad home. My Dad refused to lay a complaint; we believe because he was fearful of repercussions but the police were informed by a witness and were on the case and followed up immediately. I understand their concern was if it had been a child the child may have died and had Dads do not intervened Dad may have died. They eventually had the dog put down.
Police Message
Posted on 28-05-2017 16:54 | By waiknot
Look after yourself. I guess next we will have vigilante groups doing the job for police. Which I'm sure nobody wants
As soon as someone mentions police
Posted on 28-05-2017 19:27 | By bigfella
people are quick to jump in with their 'I saw this' and 'I heard that' and '5km tickets'. But unfortunately it seems the incorrect registration was supplied so just HOW are the Police meant to find these people huh? I know; dive through the nearest wormhole and cross their fingers they arrive in time? Nah, too easy. Perhaps...send a shuttle into space and travel around the sun at the speed of light thereby going back in time and arrive when this incident occurred and grab their names? Just a bit quicker and prevent the thing happening in the first place? Sounds silly right?? For sure. Just like some of these comments.
Appauling
Posted on 28-05-2017 21:43 | By neighbour
How were the Police not able to find the number plate? Unless in the stress of the situation the number plate was taken down wrong (were there cameras in the area)?. Seems like a cop out on the Police's part. This should ever have happened to your Dad - the abuse he encountered is even worse. This couple should man up and apologise and the dog should be destroyed before it does it again.
What a-hole owners
Posted on 29-05-2017 07:46 | By Tgaboy
More examples of human excrement in our lovely city. Hope karma catches them up.
Uninformed rhetoric
Posted on 29-05-2017 09:49 | By Papamoaner
The only people who thus far will know all sides of the story, will be the police. There are always two sides to every incident, and news reports usually only reflect a fraction of what was said by who, and the sequence of events. We need to remember before passing judgement that the police have seen this a zillion times before and will have weighed up all factors, including claims of "who started it?" (which is what kids always say after fighting). Police are always stuck between a rock and a hard place in these cases, and have become used to swarms of armchair jurors judging them. They must also always act within the law, so can't afford to let sympathy sway their judgement and end up becoming the accused.
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