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A Utah lawmaker has apologized for saying people should "stay home" if they don't want police dogs to bite them, stating he was "wrong" to do so.
Republican Senator Don Ipson made the comment during a legislative hearing on Tuesday focused on whether to codify best practices for police dog teams following recent controversy over their use in the state.
Addressing the Utah House of Representatives' law enforcement and criminal justice committee, he said of a possible bill on the issue: "Don't make it restrictive, let them [police] keep doing their job.
"We don't want to be restrictive, but I don't have a lot of sympathy, so, and we don't want to harm the public, but if they don't want to get bit, stay home."
Ipson's remark triggered an immediate backlash, prompting him to quickly backtrack and issue an apology later on Tuesday.
"It didn't come across the way I meant it, and to the world, I apologize for that, that was wrong," he told local news channel KUTV.
Rephrasing his earlier remarks, the Republican Senator told The Salt Lake Tribune newspaper: "If you don't want to have a confrontation with a police officer or a K-9 dog… you don't break the law."
Ipson's comments came after Utah lawmakers voted unanimously at Tuesday's legislative hearing to explore a possible new bill to better govern the use of canines.
The committee's decision came on the back of an audit ordered earlier this year by Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall which revealed a "pattern of abuse" in the way Salt Lake City law enforcement used its police dogs.
Mendenhall suspended the use of police dogs several months ago after The Salt Lake Tribune published video footage of a Black man being bitten by a trained canine despite complying with officers.
The subsequent audit, which examined situations in which police dogs had bitten a suspect, documented a "pattern of abuse of power," the mayor said.
Some 18 cases examined to date have been flagged to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office. The office has also reportedly requested information from all other police canine units in the Salt Lake Valley about injuries caused by their dogs.
But despite agreeing to consider whether to codifiy best practices for police dog teams, members of the law enforcement and criminal justice committee were split on how to best proceed with introducing possible legislation.
Ipson's Republican colleague and fellow committee member Representative Val Potter encouraged lawmakers to partner with local law enforcement leaders in a bid to avoid the latter feeling legislation was being driven "down their throat."
But other committee members instead drew attention to the footage published by The Salt Lake Tribune in August which showed a local police officer commanding a police dog to bite 36-year-old Jeffery Ryans, a Black man, despite the latter kneeling, with his hands raised, as he faced arrest in April.
Democratic Representative Sandra Hollins said: "For someone to be laying on the ground and complying and have a dog go after them ... I think was inappropriate."
Republican Senator Daniel Thatcher meanwhile suggested the bill could be brought about quickly if lawmakers focus on codifying best practices already in place.
He went on to suggest that police dog handlers, not the animals themselves, are often at fault in cases where excessive force has been used.
"The handler is the person that needs the additional training," Thatcher said. "Not the canine."
The developments this week came after Salt Lake City police earlier this month released footage of 19 questionable cases in which police dogs bit suspects.
The videos feature incidents from 2016 onwards and mostly involve suspects seen to be complying with officers or hiding while police attempt to locate and arrest them.
Salt Lake City police's K-9 Apprehension Program, and the four dual-purpose dogs associated with it, were suspended indefinitely after the footage was released.
Police Chief Mike Brown has meanwhile placed six officers on paid administrative leave.
