Police K-9 bites woman on the nose

PANAMA CITY  BEACH — Argo, a Belgian Malinois patrol dog with the Panama City Beach Police Department, bit a woman on the nose Monday morning when the woman tried to “kiss” the K-9.
Photographs taken of the woman shortly after she was bitten show her nose was bloody and disfigured. Kathryn Michelle Lowe, 39, of Panama City  Beach declined to comment Tuesday, saying that her attorney had asked her not to speak with the media.
The incident happened shortly after midnight at Coyote Ugly Saloon on Front Beach Road. Argo’s handler, Officer Jason Gleason, described it in an incident report.
According to Gleason, he and Lowe are friends and when she spotted them she asked if she could give Argo a treat.
“K-9 Argo had never shown any signs of aggression towards Ms. Lowe, who has given him treats and petted him,” in the past, Gleason wrote. Gleason opened the back of his vehicle so Lowe could feed him.
However, after giving the dog a treat, Lowe “leaned forward into Argo’s face and said, ‘Give me a kiss.’ ”
At that point, Gleason, who was holding Argo’s collar, became concerned and tried to push Argo back and close the door of the vehicle, according to the report. However, Lowe leaned forward again and Argo bit her on the nose. Gleason was then able to get the door shut and started tending to Lowe’s wound. When he attempted to call his supervisors to tell them about the incident, Lowe tried to stop him, Gleason wrote.
“No, this is my fault, I do not want you or Argo to get in trouble,” she said, according to Gleason’s report.
Beach officials reviewed the incident Monday and placed a letter of reprimand in Gleason’s file. Capt. Clyde Pringle wrote that Gleason was in violation of department policy, which states that no one, other than an officer, a family member or a handler is allowed to feed a department K-9.
“The public has to understand that these are working dogs,” Chief Robert Harding said Tuesday. “They are not pets.”
He added that officers typically keep the public away from the dogs even during demonstrations and other events.
Maj. David Humphreys described the incident as a momentary lapse in judgment but added that Gleason will be strictly supervised from now on.
“We did make a mistake,” Humphreys said.
However, Lowe crossed into Argo’s section of the vehicle “which is Argo’s domain,” Pringle said.
Officials added that Argo typically is very friendly and both he and his handler still are on the job.