Mississippi: 'He was trying to chew me,' boy bitten by K-9 says

MISSISSIPPI -- A 5-year-old boy who was bitten by a Pearl police dog is home from the hospital.

Jack Coulter is stitched up and hasn’t walked since K-9 Splinter attacked him Sunday morning.

Pearl police officials said the dog may have 'playfully' bitten the boy, but Jack told a different story during an exclusive interview Wednesday with 16 WAPT’s Scott Simmons.

“I was trying to get away on my bike, but he pulled me back to the ground,” Jack said. “He was banging my head on the ground. He was trying to chew me.”

The dog escaped from the back yard Sunday of handler Chris Picou’s home in the Gluckstadt neighborhood where the Coulter family lives. Before Picou found Splinter, the boy’s family said the K-9 left deep wounds on Jack’s leg.

A neighbor threw a tire at the dog and eventually had to pull the dog off the child, the family said.

“He bit me six times, I think,” Jack said. “They were big bites, and really sore bites.”

“Did you try to get him off of you?” Simmons asked.

“Yes, but he still didn’t get off of me,” Jack said.

 

“He wouldn’t let go of you?” Simmons asked.

“He was a police dog,” Jack said.

Jack’s mother, Summer Nations, said she is afraid to think that the dog might be back in the neighborhood.

 

“I would hate for that to happen again,” Nations said. “There are a lot of kids in this neighborhood.”

Pearl police officials said when Splinter is released from a 10-day stint in quarantine, he will be returned to Louisiana for additional training, and then the dog will return to duty in Pearl.

(WAPT Jackson - May 18, 2016)