GPD releases body camera footage of incident involving GPD K-9 and homeless woman
Press release from Gainesville Police Department, video provided by GPD and uploaded by Alachua Chronicle to YouTube
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gainesville Police Department (GPD) is releasing body camera footage of an incident involving a police K-9 that resulted in the mistaken apprehension and K-9 bite of an individual. The release of this footage comes following an internal review conducted by the department.
In the early morning hours of March 23, 2024, officers responded to a call regarding a felony domestic violence incident. The suspect was known to officers as a multiple-time convicted violent felony offender, on felony probation, and wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor. The suspect was inside a residence and refusing to come outside. The officers had probable cause to make an arrest on this individual for violent felony charges.
In this circumstance, Florida State Statute mandates a physical arrest of individuals responsible for this type of crime. Officers attempted to persuade the suspect to come out peacefully, however, the suspect broke out a sliding glass door and fled. Due to the severity of the charges, officers pursued the suspect on foot. The suspect evaded officers and per department policy, a tactical perimeter was set up and additional resources were brought to the scene, including a K-9 team.
With the information of the incident, the shift commander authorized the use of the K-9, which was an approved use by GPD Policy. At approximately 3:08 a.m., loud public address system announcements were made by the K-9 handler, instructing the suspect he was under arrest and to surrender to the police. After receiving no response, a K-9 track of the suspect ensued.
At 3:26 a.m., in the area of 3131 NW 13th Street, the K-9 located a part of the ankle monitor belonging to the suspect alongside of the building. The K-9 then led officers around the corner to the front of the same building and located discarded clothing and additional pieces of the ankle monitor belonging to the suspect. The track continued into a fenced-in yard, and officers followed the leashed K-9 to the rear of the building. The track led to a nearby individual inside bushes who was wearing similar-colored clothing as the suspect. Officers gave immediate commands, and the K-9 engaged on the subject’s leg. It was determined that this individual was not the suspect. The K-9 was immediately withdrawn, and officers provided comfort until EMS had arrived.
Warning: video may be disturbing
The victim was treated by healthcare professionals at a local hospital. After her release, follow up support and resources were offered to the victim in order to aid in her recovery.
The suspect in this case was identified as Dovico Miles, Jr. Miles surrendered to the Alachua County Jail on March 27, 2024, and was charged with Felony Domestic Battery – Repeat Offender. Miles is currently being held on a no-bond status at the Alachua County Jail.
GPD continues their commitment to transparency and accountability. A preliminary internal review of the incident revealed that K-9 policy and deployment protocols were followed.
Full hour-long K-9 track:
Treatment of K-9 bite victim and identification of suspect from GPS monitor:
Unfortunate accident. GPD and K-9 did everything correctly. Not sure it’s reasonable to expect that a homeless person who was trespassing would be hiding in the bushes. Criminals hide in the bushes to elude the police.
The Gainesville City Commisison, not the police, are to blame for inviting and atracking all the homeless people to Gainesville looking for the government funded handout.
if I was homeless hiding in the bushes by myself to sleep sounds a lot safer than sleeping around a bunch of other homeless folks.
Not saying GPD did anything wrong either. One of those bad deal all around things unfortunately. I hope she takes up the offers given to her.
if I were homeless, I would be to busy trying to get a job to be sleeping in a bush.
A lot of places taking applications at 3:30 am? 🤔
Well, the good news is the city is finally doing something to help get rid of the homeless.
the ignorance is astounding
We should not be blaming the police, we should not be blaming the incredible K9, we should not be blaming the paramedics. The ONLY person who deserves blame in this case is Dovico Miles Jr. His selfishness and refusal to obey lawful commands got this woman bit.
And the fact the Dovico was even walking the streets should be questioned. Probation for accessory to a first degree felony (homicide) several previous violations of probation……..
Probably the best thing to happen to her in a long time. The stay in Shands, the inevitable lawsuit… her life will be better from this.
Sure her life will be better after getting that check with a few zero’s on it. For about 6 months she will have an apartment, smoke cigarettes, drink, and generally piss away her new found money. Later this year we will find her asleep in yet another shrubbery. Sad but true.
this is a gross generalization and assumption. You don’t know anything about this woman other than that she is homeless. not all homeless people are the same. fix your heart.
the good news is that not only will her life will be getting better but so will the life of her drug dealer and the guy who owns the liquor store.
Well if we still had the Dignity Village camp up in the disGRACE woods, she wouldn’t have been there then. Neither would other scattered homeless and addicts.
Thank goodness our state community is changing the laws. Despite kicking and screaming Demtards about K9s.
Or If we had the tent city off of SE 4th Ave. that was cleared and the people relocated to the 39th ave. site in order to gentrify the area and make a small fortune for those in the know who bought up the property….always follow the money.
The City Commission did not create the homeless problem here, anymore than the Ocala City Commission created their homeless problem, which is roughly equal to Gainesville’s.
Unremarked on by the usual purveyors of blame and general nastiness here on the comments thread are the obvious mental issues this woman exhibits and which are one of several common characteristics among the homeless population (How someone can watch that without feeling some sympathy for her is beyond me.). Due to court rulings 40+ years ago, it is more difficult now to commit someone against their will than in the past, and that increased our civil rights while also putting a lot of mental cases on the streets, loitering laws were overturned, and drug use has increased. None of these factors were caused by city leaders here, or anywhere else.
Presently the governors of several western states, including California, have appealed to the SC to reverse rulings by lower federal courts which have made it almost impossible to move the homeless from streets, unless the local and state governments get them into alternative housing. Part of the case presented was a study showing that about 75% of those in Portland offered alternative housing turned it down.
https://www.businessinsider.com/homeless-encampments-supreme-court-california-arizona-oregon-criminalize-shelters-newsom-2024-1
Yes I feel sympathy for her being accidently nipped by the K9 it was very traumatic situation. She received care and will continue to seek care for her injuries by professional staff until healed. It is probably the best care she has received in tears. However I do not feel the sympathy simply because she is homeless. This town and county has gone way out of their roles to make this area home to homeless.
Ocala’s homeless problem is materially less than Gainesville’s on a per-capita basis. This might be due to the fact that their city and county governments actively promote gainful private employment and small business.
The numbers vary from year to year, but the difference between the 3 cities is not enough to say one caused the problem and the other didn’t. That is ridiculous. Further, last year Marion County housed more homeless than Alachua, an action which is clearly “welcoming” and opposed by most here.
I have been building primarily in Alachua County and Gainesville for over 40 years. Neither of those governments have been difficult to deal with. I have also built in Marion County, and it’s building department is less flexible and harder to deal with than either of our local departments.
PS The homeless generally seem to prefer places that are warm, and/or with greater wealth and resources. Wouldn’t you?
My statement did not address causation. And to be fair, Gainesville’s status as a regional university town is a beacon for the hobo community. Its that way everywhere. But with GRACE offering no questions asked admission and a hobo services van, we definitely have the welcome mat out.
Its great that the local governmental permitting and inspection staff are easy to work with. I have the same experience with county staff, too.
But the anti-jobs slant of the elected bodies is palpable. When was the last time we saw something like this in Gainesville:
https://www.wcjb.com/2024/03/19/its-great-day-columbia-county-first-tenant-moving-into-north-florida-mega-industrial-park/
Jizzy Chin, thank you, you made the point for us. Ocala has the same homeless population, but Ocala has double the population as Gainesville.
Putting aside your perverse secures fantasies – no one wants to hear them Mayor – not only is that false, but even if true (the numbers and ratio vary from year to year) proves it is a national problem not caused by the cities or counties.
It’s not a big problem in Miami. They do not roll out the red carpet, and they do have a thriving economy for anyone who actually wants to work.
You just seem painfully small-town and podunk, Jazzman, like our recent North Dakota hillbilly mayor and current “GHS-gradyeate” Harvey. You probably don’t even know what it’s like to have a thriving economy if you have lived here all your life.
Maybe you noticed the rise and fall of the downtown, finalized by Poe and his amigos. I recall how the Sun Center, the Hippodrome, and ‘revitalizing’ downtown were such a big deal in the late 80s and early 90s.
Poe erroneously takes credit for Depot Park, which will likely turn into a homeless encampment if it hasn’t already. None of them care about downtown anymore. Look at it. Likewise, they don’t care about trees, greenspaces, free speech, the ability to do what you want, and all the other things that classic ‘liberals’ have always cared about.
These are deranged, incompetent leftist parasite tyrants who need to be replaced. Like you, they have no idea how to get a local economy and jobs going. Hint: take a look at Newberry of Alachua. Or Ocala.
I lived in Manhattan for 3 years, SF for one year, and on the outskirts of Alachua for 15 years running a cow- calf farm. In 2022 Alachua had an estimated 600 homeless, Miami 3,100 and Marion County had about 475. It is a national problem.
PS Mr Peabody
1. Unemployment is setting records for low numbers and length of the good job market. That’s just a fact.
2. Did you think the poor woman in that video appeared to be readily employable?
Both those places are practically unlivable now, by the way, due to leftist Democrat policies. That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for “thriving economies.”
Of course that wasn’t your point, but is the only port you have left in this self inflicted storm.
By the way, I have not been to NYC in a number of years, but because I have very close relatives there, I go to the SF area about twice a year. It is far from unlivable. It is still a very beautiful, economically and culturally vibrant city that is relatively safe as well. Like NYC, it’s too expensive for very many poor people to live there, and so the previous slums – there never were any of any size in SF – now have Starbucks on every corner and rents that young professionals struggle to meet.
You should stop believing the BS your handlers like DeSantis and Fox News pump you up with. It may be news to you, but rents are higher – much higher – in NYC and SF than in Ocala or Lake City because of demand. Try to figure out why.
So you learned to mimic the rich leftist elitists in Manhattan and the deranged lefties in SF. That’s not very convincing.
Whatever. First you claim I am a rube who’s never left Alachua County, but when you find out I lived for 3 years in the economic center of the world, for a year in the tech center of the world and also major port, and that my downtown for 15 years was the local place you consider an economic miracle, even though like Newberry, Alachua is a bedroom community for Gainesville who’s biggest economic park is a spinoff of talent at Gainesville based UF. There are virtually no farms left in western Alachua County including the one I ran. So Imagine your recommendation for places like Williston and Starke is to pull up and move closer to Gainesville and build bedroom developments.
Genius!
You got the right name cuz everything you say is backwards in 2022 the population of Gainesville was 145.214 and the population of Ocala was 65.478.
The SCOTUS did not make it “impossible” to move the homeless off inappropriate spots. They simply asked for a designated site, which Dem states ruled by ACLU lawyers refuse to designate.
You don’t know what you are talking about. The SC has not spoken on the issue for 40 years and the 9th circuit specifically said governments must provide alternative housing and the homeless must choose to go there.
Did the 75% refusing housing in Portland do so because they wanted to retain their access to illegal drugs?
One thing governments CAN do to help people avoid homelessness is aggressively crack down on the illegal drug vending that worsens the problems of people with borderline mental illness.
Steve, while I would guess that the ASO already prioritizes drug trafficking, it is wholly legitimate for you to question policies meant to decrease homelessness or suggest new ones, and my objection to most writers here – not apparently you – is their ignorant and insistent suggestion that the problem was caused by our local leaders. Compare Ocala and Gainesville? Fine and let’s look for what works and what doesn’t, but we have to start by acknowledging that both cities have a homeless problem because that’s a fact.
I don’t care who you are if you are not the suspect and you’ve been bitten by a police dog that’s not the person’s fault that got bit. Point blank and everybody goes through struggles thank God I am blessed enough that I didn’t have to ever go homeless hungry or without a vehicle but who is anybody to judge anybody on how they are just because they’re not like them? It was Injustice and this is the second incident with a damn dog bite in alachua county Gainesville Florida don’t y’all remember the first person that got bit and he lost an eye yeah he might have been a criminal too however you’re not God and for that matter I hope she sues the piss out of alachua county the lady could have been mentally unstable and with no family and know where to turn and maybe she was raised by her family anybody ever think about that? Nobody deserves to get bit and that is the point if you cannot contain your animal I don’t believe you should have it and specially being a cop like really what’s next somebody dying from a dog going to somebody’s throat because the cop says sickum really
Marie,
I am with you and your suggestion of instead of the dog law enforcement should use their guns instead. I mean, I get what you are really saying, if these police have guns they should use them. Geez, Marie you are a real smart one.
I commented on it simply because my feelings were hurt when I seen her mugshot day before yesterday I cannot believe that they arrested her after this all happened I also commented on YouTube because if it’s worldwide maybe people will have more acknowledgment for the biggest problems in alachua county. The crime rate the homelessness the everything all over I hope this teaches awareness in all aspects good and bad and this city is like the song by The eagles hotel California you can check out but you can never leave
According to GPD, she has not been arrested.
Stop your whining. You do not have to read or view mugshots if you choose. You are the one that engrained any photo in your own brain. It was an accidental bite plain and simple. She received treatment and probably will receive money from the city since a ambulance chaser will latch on. The idiot who lost his life was a gun toting drug dealer who resisted the dog. Completely different circumstances one a accident the other a choice that One Eye will not forget. May be better than prison.
Besides the real suspect (Miles) who caused the presence of the K9 is a plague on this community and has been since the day he learned to walk.
If the military fired a missile knowing that once the fire the missile they can’t control where it goes or what it hits are they responsible for any damage? Why does this police department keep using a weapon that once you let it go, you have no control on who it attacks!!! Oh ma’am! I am sorry the dog chewed your arm up but you shouldn’t have been homeless!
Cannot believe they took her picture down I felt sorry for her when I seen the lady and didn’t even know that she had gotten bitten yet and her image is going to forever stick in my brain now because she had on it looked like blue scrubs and her face was in so much distress it’s a sad shame and it’s not the first picture at the top with the lady that says trespass it looked like the lady had mental issues they know they effed up
According to GPD, she has not been arrested.
Marie,
The good news is you finally got something stuck in your brain.
I don’t understand why the dogs can’t pin a suspect without actually BITING. Ins’t that one of the things they were trained to do? Dogs can track, corner, identify. —- I don’t believe biting is not under the verbal control and command of the officer. Dog spots someone in a bush they can just bark and hold them there.
I DO fault how these units lack control over their trained dogs.
The suspects are likely laced with psychotic drug odors, that’s why they go berserk.
Lesson: say no to drugs.
OMG go see a doctor. You are apparently infested with the dumb-azz disease.
This discussion is going the way of “shoot him in the knee cap” philosophy..sheesh…
Why aim so low?
Nice to see all the ignorant commenters out in force again for this story. What in the hell is wrong with you people? Although it was an obvious accident y’all still cannot just accept that and say the police and K9 screwed up. The ignorant far right is just as lost as the ignorant far left…both of you only want your way and refuse to even dip your toe in sanity.
And we can thank GPD for starting this crap…their initial press release was a complete shame. They knew exactly what they were doing by conflating multiple unrelated stories and you tards took the bait instantly
https://alachuachronicle.com/gpd-releases-statement-on-recent-k9-utilization/
“The suspect was known to officers as a multiple-time convicted violent felony offender, on felony probation, and wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor.” This is why we have a County Jail. What the hell is wrong with the Judges that keep releasing violent criminals?????