Man sues, saying police dog attacked while he was handcuffed

GREENVILLE (AP) A man is suing a sheriff’s office in South Carolina, saying a police dog attacked him while he was on the ground handcuffed.

Eric Sweet’s lawsuit says the dog had already bitten him when he refused to come out of the crawl space of a Greenville County home.

The Greenville News obtained the lawsuit, which says the handler returned the dog to a police vehicle, but then inadvertently hit a switch that opened the door while in the crawl space and the dog attacked Sweet again.

Sweet says several deputies didn’t stop the dog attack and he was in the hospital for two months.

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office didn’t dispute the dog was released accidentally but denied Sweet’s allegations.