“He grabbed me off the car and threw me down. That’s how I got this and then the dog was chewing on my arm. I couldn’t do nothing,” said Melvin Carson, a 14 year-old resident of North County.
Carson told KSDK reporter Cordell Whitlock that a Police officer and K-9 unit dog for no reason attacked him because police believed he was inside the stolen car; he insists otherwise.
Because of his wounds, Carson ended up in the hospital and received several stitches resulting from bites on the boy’s arm and finger.
Carson said that he was walking to a friend’s house Saturday night off of Lusher Road in St. Louis County when a car full of teenagers drove by and when someone inside that car asked him if he was part of a gang, police pulled up.
“The police came by there and he stood for five seconds and flashed his light and everyone started running,” Carson said.
Police said the car in question was stolen.
Carson said he ran out of fear but eventually stopped. He said that’s when a police dog caught up with him along with an officer. Carson jumped on top of a car to avoid the dog and was subsequently attacked by the officer and the animal.
Ordaria Jones, Carson’s mother, said a police officer shared his thoughts about the incident with Melvin in front of her.
“He’s telling him let this be a lesson to him not to get in stolen cars. And the lesson to me is you shouldn’t stick your dog on people if you don’t know if they were involved or not,” Jones told Whitlock.
“He talking about a 14-year-old kid shot at him before. I said, ‘That’s not my 14-year-old kid. I’m talking about mine,'” said Jones.
St. Louis County Family Court will decide if Melvin will be charged.
A spokesperson for the St. Louis County Police Department told Whitlock that the officer in question filed a thorough report and the department stands by his actions.
Jones told KSDK that she would be filing a complaint with the department’s internal affairs unit.