German Shepherd
German Shepherd

A police dog attacked a girl and three men during a rampage after it escaped from its kennel.

Four people were injured by the German shepherd in Glossop, Derbyshire, among them a 13-year-old girl who was bitten twice on her arm and leg during the attack, which happened on the high street.

The dog then turned on another teenager, an 18-year-old man who had stepped in to try to rescue the girl. He was bitten on the arm.

A 48-year-old man who tried to halt the second attack became victim number three as the out-of-control canine shredded his shirt and clawed him. A fourth man was also attacked.

It emerged later that the dog belonged to the Greater Manchester Police force and who's owner lived in Derbyshire.

An investigation by Derbyshire Constabulary is under way to investigate how the dog escaped from its kennel.

A Derbyshire Police spokesman said that after the attacks the German shepherd ran off towards Freetown where it was captured by its handler.

It is likely the dog will be put down.

German shepherds are widely used by police and are popular as sociable animals.

Four-year-old Visco, a German shepherd, was named the best police dog in the country for its record of averaging catching one suspect every three days in 2012.

He and handler PC Matt Holding scooped a commendation award for feats including finding a child who wandered off after a serious car crash.

"You realise how having a dog helps solve so many more crimes," Holding told the Mail. "Without a police dog you perhaps wouldn't catch as many suspects.

"For Visco it's fun. Training and work are like playing in the park for him."