Georgia man dies after a police dog bites him during a chase by a state trooper

MOULTRIE, Ga. (AP) — A man has died five days after he was bitten by a police dog during a chase in south Georgia.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it is conducting an inquiry after Kevin Kennedy of Pavo died in a Macon hospital on Tuesday. A K-9 bit Kennedy as a state trooper chased him across fields south of Moultrie on Aug. 22.

The trooper saw that Kennedy was driving a blue four-wheeler along a state highway and had heard reports that someone driving a blue four-wheeler had been committing thefts and burglaries in the area, the GBI said. Investigators say Kennedy fled when the trooper tried to pull him over.

The trooper chased Kennedy through fields until Kennedy tried to turn in front of the patrol cruiser and hit it with his four-wheeler. Kennedy’s all-terrain vehicle turned over, and he ran away until the trooper’s K-9 caught up and bit him, the GBI said.

Investigators say that the trooper called for medical help as he arrested Kennedy because he saw he was injured from the dog bite.

The GBI Crime Lab will conduct an autopsy to determine what caused Kennedy’s death.

Kennedy’s family told WALB-TV that one of his arms was amputated because of injuries from the bite before he died. Kennedy’s death, the family said, was not inevitable.

“It was just petty,” Judy Striping, Kevin’s aunt, told the television station. “He wasn’t dangerous. Didn’t have any weapons. It was just a petty thing that cost him his life. I just want people to know that it shouldn’t have happened. The dog should have never been turned out on him.”