Man pleads not guilty to animal cruelty in stabbing of police dog in Midway District
A man accused of stabbing a San Diego police dog during an altercation with officers in the Midway District pleaded not guilty Feb. 2 to charges including animal cruelty and resisting arrest.
Dedrick Daknell Jones, 35, is accused of stabbing K-9 Titan on Jan. 25 after an hours-long standoff with San Diego police. The dog was treated for stab wounds to his side that caused a laceration to his colon in three places, police said. Titan had six to eight inches of his colon surgically removed and received more than 100 stitches.
A man was arrested on suspicion of stabbing a San Diego police dog during an altercation in the Midway District, police said.
In the days afterward, the Police Department reported that Titan “is doing well and in good spirits.”
“We are grateful Titan is on the road to recovery,” the department said on social media. “He’s a brave boy!”
Police said officers were originally called for a report of a man trespassing at a business in the 3300 block of Barnett Avenue.
The man refused to give the officers information about himself and kept reaching for his bag, according to police.
When officers tried to put him in handcuffs, the man punched the officers and ran to a nearby military property, where he stood on a shipping container waving a knife, police said.
About four hours later, emergency negotiators persuaded him to come down from the container, but he “refused to put the knife down,” the department said.
“The officer released his K-9 partner, Titan, to assist and the suspect stabbed him,” police said.
Officers then ran in, and Jones was arrested. He was booked into San Diego County Jail with bail set at $100,000.